Finding Their Way Back To Each Other
by doctorroselove
Summary: What if meeting in Journey's End was always a possibility? If time is in flux, is it still possible to believe in fate and is it really possible to have a hand in your own destiny?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own Doctor Who, or the characters. Not the Doctor or Rose. Or even Mickey.**

**oOoOoOoOo**

"System offline," the automated voice announced.

What? No! They were so _close_.

She reached out for the lever but it was too far away for her to reach comfortably.

Straining, she glanced across the room and saw her own terror reflected on his face.

"Be careful!" he yelled to her, even though the directive was not necessary. The caution in his eyes had already alerted her long before he had chosen to verbalise it.

They were running out of time. The Daleks were passing by more slowly now. Any second they would hear one cry out "_Exterminate!_" and it would all be over.

She attempted, once more in vain to reach the handle but it was no use. Seeing as there was only centimetres between her and it, there was only one thing to do. It was the only solution they had time to consider.

Centimetres, right. Easy.

Closing her eyes she hurled herself at the lever.

Despite the screech of the wind, she was sure she heard his breathing stop as she took her blind leap of faith. He would _definitely_ disapprove of this latest jeopardy friendly manoeuvre.

Seconds later she felt the crook of her elbow connect with the solid metal pole of the lever, holding her securely in place. Sighing with relief, she used all her strength and started to push it upwards, back into place.

"I've got to get it upright," she called out to him without looking directly at him, aware that he was already watching her every move. The danger wasn't over yet. Her heavy boots started to lift from the ground as she struggled to regain her footing against the intense, deafening wind that surrounded them.

"Online and locked," the system finally informed her.

She'd done it. They had done it! Saved the stinking planet from the Daleks and the Cyberman, once again! She let the adrenaline wash over her as she realised the magnitude of what they had just done. She couldn't resist laughing out loud.

"_Hold on!_" he screamed.

Her eyes met his. She smiled confidently at him, trying to reassure him but his face remained tense. He always worried about her. He'd see, it would all turn out fine, it always did.

_Just a few more seconds_, she told herself. She could already sense the breach was beginning to close. Just a few seconds longer.

The program unexpectedly shifted into it's final phase, going up a gear. The wind suddenly got much stronger and both her feet were ripped completely from the ground beneath her.

It was harder to hold on from this angle. With the rest of her body pulling away mid-air, she was left with nothing to support but dead weight. Her fingers began to grow slack against the lever handle as a result. If she could just readjust her grip on one hand for a microsecond surely she could regain some strength. She allowed her numb fingers to stretch minutely.

And instead found herself falling.

His tortured scream entangled with the fierce wind that howled around her as she tore through the air.

The reality of the situation started to sink in. She was being sucked into the Void, without him.

She cried out to him desperately. His face was both helpless and horrified as he reached out for her. She didn't think she had ever seen him look so afraid. The terrifying truth dawned on her. For once he couldn't get to her. He wouldn't be able to save her this time. It was too late, this was it. The storm they had both known was coming had finally arrived. Hell.

She braced herself as she watched him get further and further away and the bright light that was the Void drew closer.

**oooooo**

Rose Tyler's eyes snapped open as she jerked awake. She couldn't quite seem to shake the sensation of falling. She rolled over, attempting to clear her head. That dream again. If she closed her eyes, she could still hear him screaming her name.

"_Rose_," whispered through the darkness.

Rose frowned, she must still be disorientated from sleep. He hadn't whispered her name. He had called out for her, louder than the wind that had sucked the Daleks and Cybermen back into the Void. Louder, even, than her own scream as she plummeted to her certain death.

"_Rose_," she heard again.

Rose shot up in bed, vaguely aware that her hair was falling over her eyes. She was fully awake now, that much she knew for certain. Brushing the matted hair back, she scanned her surroundings to check she was alone. A quick look confirmed that she was.

Had she just imagined that voice? _His_ voice? Was she imagining things now? She didn't think her imagination was quite that good. Was she losing her mind and, if she was then why was she not more concerned about that prospect?

Rose rubbed her eyes in sheer exhaustion. She almost felt as if she was being punished for something. It was bad enough she was forced to relive the nightmare every other night. Did she now have to put up with this, too? Was she not stronger than that?

"_Rose,_" the voice called again.

Nope, she decided then. She was most definitely _not_ imagining it. That was his voice. The Doctor's voice. _Her_ Doctor. He had come for her at last.

She flung back her duvet and leapt from the bed, awaiting further instructions from an otherwise empty room.

"_Rose_," she heard for a fourth time.

"Doctor?" she called back, all but jumping for joy, a disbelieving grin breaking across her face. That man. That insane, _brilliant_ man. "I'm here. Oh my- Can you hear me? I'm right here, Doctor!"

Silence was the only thing that greeted her.

"Doctor, please!" she cried out in a frustrated tone.

"Rose?" she heard from outside her bedroom door. She whirled round. This wasn't the voice she had just been listening for. Although this voice, too, was unmistakeable in it's own right.

It belonged to Jackie Tyler.

Without warning her mother threw the door open, entering as normal without so much as a knock.

"It's 3 A.M, sweetheart. What you shoutin' for? Mickey's convinced there's a bleedin' fire! Wanted to barge in here and save you, he did! I mean, what if you weren't dressed? I told him, I said 'you might have seen it all before but you won't be seein' it again in this universe, sunshine!'"

Only then did Jackie pause to look at her daughter properly. She hadn't seen her smile like that in weeks. At least not since before...Jackie pushed the unpleasant memories back and gently took Rose by the shoulders.

"What is it, darlin'?" she asked, shaking her slightly when her daughter didn't immediately answer.

Her daughter beamed at her and Jackie suddenly knew what was coming. Or rather, _who _Rose thought was coming.

"It's him, Mum. It's really him."

**oOoOoOo**

**Thanks so much for reading!**

**If you have feedback then please offer it. I'm new at this so I'd love to know what you all think. I'll try to keep everyone in character and make the story believable but let me know if I'm messing anything up!**

**DoctorRoseLove**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Doctor Who. I still wish I did.**

**oOoOoOo**

The room was silent by the time Rose had finished speaking. Pete, Jackie and Mickey exchanged glances, clearly wondering who should speak first.

"Are you sure it was even him?" Pete asked carefully, opting to go first in what would inevitably be a long night of questioning. "'Cus, I'm not being funny or anything but you haven't exactly been taking care of yourself lately."

He was referring to her most recent behavior. For the past six weeks she had been coming and going at all hours. She was spending more time at Torchwood than she was at home. On the rare occasion she _was_ home, she'd spend her time either in her room alone or watching the local news, desperate for something dramatic to happen. They all knew why she was behaving so erratically. She was literally_ looking _for trouble, in the hopes of finding the Doctor. To say it concerned them would be understating it.

Rose rolled her eyes at him, appreciating his apparent lack of confidence in her mental state. "It was him, I just know it," she told him matter of factly.

"I mean, you're the only one who can actually _hear_ his voice." Pete pushed gently. "It could be something else.." he trailed off, awkwardly.

"It could be," she admitted. "But you've seen what he can do. Do you honestly doubt him?"

Pete's eyebrows furrowed. Rose had him there and she knew it. Pete respected the Doctor too much to insult his abilities.

"I guess not," he admitted, at last.

"Well, _I_ do," Jackie interrupted. "It's been weeks, sweetheart. If that really _was_ him, then what's taken him so bleedin' long?"

"Sometimes that's how long it takes," Rose answered simply.

Jackie felt for her daughter, she really did. After all, she was all too familiar with the pain that Rose was experiencing. The loss of a loved one was an indescribable hurt but she wouldn't stand idly by and watch her daughter get her hopes up, only for them to be crushed in the long run. Rose needed to face reality. The Doctor wasn't coming back. Travel between their two Universes was impossible, he had said so himself. The Doctor was a man who relished any chance he got to brag about his vast knowledge. For him to admit that he couldn't do something...Well, Jackie was inclined to believe him.

"He's got a _time machine_, love," she pointed out. "If he really wanted to, what's stopping him from going back an' warning you the day before? From savin' you then?"

Rose sighed. She knew it would be pointless trying to explain these things to Jackie. Why the Doctor couldn't travel back on his own timeline. She could barely understand it herself. What happened at Canary Wharf that day was a fixed point, anyway. If they went back and changed anything, what was to stop the Reapers from re-appearing and consuming everything in sight? She wouldn't let anyone else die for her recklessness.

"He just can't, Mum."

Jackie was dissatisfied with the answer, as Rose had known she would be. "What sorta answer is that?" she asked. "I don't even know why you'd wanna go back. If it's an adrenaline thrill you're after, there are plenty of safe ways to do that, right 'ere on _this_ planet!"

Rose was all too familiar with how her mother felt about time travel. Rose thought she was a little hypocritical really. The Universe had given Jackie the ultimate gift, it had reunited her with someone she had lost, someone she loved. Yet she didn't seem to want the same for Rose.

"You don't understand because you've never seen it out there, Mum. It's just incredible. And it's not the adrenaline or the aliens or even saving the planet. It's more than that. It's the feel of new ground beneath your feet. It's breathing new air. It's experiencing new life every single time you open those doors. It's running for your life, holdin' his hand-"

Rose couldn't deny the truth any longer. "He needs someone to hold his hand, Mum. I need him to hold mine. Only him."

Jackie didn't slow at her daughter's sudden proclamation of love. She continued on, undeterred, "You can travel here! You can do all of that on_ this_ world. Well, I hope not the runnin' for your life part...'Cus that's just madness, that is Rose. Darlin' there's nothin' wrong with living your life here. With us. Without him."

"It's not the same!" Rose said, exasperated. "There's so much more out there. I've tried tellin' you all of this before but I guess I don't know how to say it right. My life is just so much _better _with him. I can't stay here.. It's just not enough for me," she admitted quietly.

"Not _good_ enough, you mean," Mickey spat out bluntly.

Rose jumped visibly at the sound of his voice. He had been so still, so silent, she had all but forgotten he was in the room.

"So, what then?" Mickey continued. "If this _does_ turn out to be the Doctor, you're just gonna run off and leave us again? Don't know why we're even surprised, you'd think we'd be used to it by now. Were you even plannin' on saying goodbye this time?"

"You're one to talk," she blurted out without thinking. "You ran off and left me the first time we came here, remember? Travellin' with us one minute and leaving me the next! You wanted a life with the people you love and you could only have that on this world. So don't tell me why I want this! You can't judge me when it wasn't good enough for _you_!"

Mickey looked away, abashed.

Rose was disappointed in herself. That had been uncalled for. She had never meant to hurt Mickey, not now or ever, really.

She considered their time together, both of them had been so young when they'd first started dating. She had only been in one relationship other than him and that hadn't ended too well. After that it had been so comfortable, so _safe_ with Mickey that she'd never let herself want anything more. But then she'd met the Doctor and everything she thought she felt for Mickey was turned upside down. Her every belief had been questioned and she had slowly come to realize that she loved Mickey but she wasn't _in_ love with him.

Rose felt immensely guilty for the cheap shot she had just taken. She knew Mickey had only stayed on this world because _she_ wasn't on it. He was a good guy and he deserved better than what she could offer him.

He was long overdue an apology. She crossed the room, crouching in front of him.

"Mickey?" she tried. He looked over at her with a sullen expression on his face.

"I never said, all these years...I'm sorry," she told him, honestly.

He sniffed once and tried to adopt a tougher exterior. "Yeah, well. Thanks I guess."

But he couldn't help smiling at her. That was one of the best things about Mickey; he didn't hold a grudge. She grinned back at him.

"Will this make you happy, Rose?" Pete asked, seriously. "Is there really nothing else?"

Rose looked at her family in turn, saving Mickey for last. She considered lying to spare their feelings before shaking her head in response.

"Well, then," Mickey said. Tell us what you need."

**oOoOoOo**

**I hope you all liked it!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: These get old pretty fast, don't they? Once again, I do not own Doctor Who or it's characters.**

**oOoOoOo**

Rose stood facing the Doctor. Finally.

His eyes were focused on the three figures standing by Pete Tyler's dark jeep in the distance.

"You've still got Mr Mickey, then?" he asked her, nodding in their direction.

"There's five of us now," Rose confirmed. "Mum, Dad, Mickey...And the baby."

His warm eyes widened and locked onto her own, stunned. "You're not..?" he trailed off, seemingly unable to finish his question.

Rose let a long moment pass between them, allowing the possibility to sink in. The possibility that she could have moved on with a human, that she would be content to live a human life, complete with a husband and kids.

Then she burst out laughing at such a daft notion.

"No, it's Mum. She's three months gone," she clarified, gesturing towards the jeep behind her. "More Tylers on the way."

Together, they turned their attention over towards Rose's somewhat _unconventional_ family unit. Jackie's lips were pursed as she met the Doctor's gaze, looking as if she hadn't ruled out snatching her daughter back and making a run for it. She was a gifted woman, Jackie Tyler. Her concern was evident, even from afar. As was her disapproval.

The Doctor looked back towards Rose, shuddering slightly.

"And what about you?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm back working in the shop," she lied boldly, attempting to keep a straight face.

His mouth turned down slightly at the corners. He tried to disguise it but Rose knew him too well for that, she could tell he was disappointed. She began to feel quite guilty over her earlier prank. Did he really think she'd just given up without him and gone back to normality? Could he truly believe that she wouldn't be trying everything in her power to find him?

"Well, good for you," he said half-heartedly.

"Shut up," she told him. "No, I'm not. Looks like the Torchwood on this planet is open for business. I reckon I know a thing or two about aliens." She attempted to summon a smile and failed to do so.

"Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth!" the Doctor exclaimed, now beaming with genuine pride.

There might once have been a time when she, too, would have been immensely proud of this title. This, however, was not that time.

"Am I ever gonna see you again?" she pleaded, her voice breaking. The tears were starting to build in her eyes.

"You _can't_," he said softly.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Oh, I've got the TARDIS. Same of life old life, last of the Time Lords," he joked flatly, with neither of them laughing.

"On your own?" she managed to choke out.

He didn't speak. Instead he simply nodded, his eyes conveying everything he couldn't say. She couldn't go with him but he wouldn't replace her, either.

Rose opened her mouth and drew the cool air in. This was it, it was now or never. She needed to tell him something.

**oooooo**

She awoke to the sound of the television and was quick to recognize her surroundings. She must have nodded off again, she concluded.

The dream had been so _vivid_.

Normally her dreams consisted of their adventures, of planets, of people; humans and aliens alike. Her nightmares usually included a great white wall that couldn't be climbed. Yes, there were always realistic aspects to her dreams but this one had been entirely different. It was brand new, yet she had already known how it would end.

There was something nudging at her subconscious, trying to get her attention, something she could almost access but not quite.

Rose inhaled deeply. She was almost sure she could still smell the sea air, still see him standing there on that long stretch of pale sand. She brought a hand up to her face, convinced she could still feel the breeze whipping her hair in front of it.

_That's weird,_ she thought as she clenched her fist. Her fingers ached like they had in the dream. But that was from the deep-set cold on the beach, surely? That, or from those stupid finger-less gloves.

She shook her head to clear it. It must have just been the way she'd slept.

Mind you, she hadn't told anyone that she had been accepted for a position at Torchwood. Of course everyone knew she had been spending a lot of time there recently but that was the extent of their knowledge. As far as they knew, she remained in the control room, mourning the Doctor.

Her heart grew heavy as she thought of him now.

"_Doctor_," she sighed.

It had been weeks since she had last heard his voice and Rose felt completely helpless without it. Forget Torchwood, what else did she have to go on, if not that? There seemed to be absolutely nothing there to guide her.

Was it possible all she had heard was an echo? Even though she didn't like to admit it, she was starting to lose faith.

Rose reached over for the remote. Pointing it at the T.V set, she switched it off.

_It was just a dream_, she scolded herself. It couldn't possibly _mean_ anything. It was only natural she'd dream about him, he was so often in her thoughts. Of course she'd want to share it with him that she was working at Torchwood, she felt so guilty even to be associated with the company, given their previous actions.

There was no point in dwelling on it, let alone obsessing over it. After all, she didn't even own finger-less gloves.

She arose from her chair and was just walking from the living room when a thought occurred to her. An impossible thought, the most impossible thought.

Jackie, her mother..._Pregnant_?!

**oOoOoOoOo**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Doctor Who!**

**oOoOoOo**

Rose was surprised to find she was actually _enjoying_ her day off work. It had been a long time since she had done nothing. _Well_, she amended the thought, nothing _and_ ice-cream.

Digging her spoon in for another bite, she heard the doorbell ring. "Don't strain yourself, your Highness. I'll get it," her mother shouted sarcastically.

After a few minutes she could hear Jackie giggling. Rose didn't need to be psychic to know she was flirting with whoever was at the front door.

Eventually the door clicked shut.

"Who was that?" Rose called out to her.

"Oh, wrong address. Was looking for next door. Lovely bloke. Tony, his name was...That's a nice name, isn't it love? Tony?" Jackie asked her loudly from the hallway. "He's quite handsome too but not in the usual way, mind you. Dark hair and gorgeous eyes, you know? Great jaw."

Rose sighed inwardly, glad that her back was turned to her mother. They might be in a different world but it was still the same old Jackie.

"Mum!" she exclaimed, feigning shock. "You're a married woman!"

She heard Jackie tut loudly. "I _know_ that. Not for me sweetheart, for you! 'Bout time you started dating again. He's a bit too young for my taste really! Couldn't face it after embarrassing myself with Elton that time...He had a nice bum, did I ever tell you that? Once he was fixin' under the kitchen sink, right and I swear you could see right down his-"

Having met Elton _and_ his girlfriend Ursula, Rose had heard quite enough. Now _there _was a complicated relationship. "Mum, stop!" she interrupted hastily.

"What?" her mum said innocently.

Jackie's voice grew louder now. Rose twisted in her seat to address her properly. Upon turning around, her jaw dropped.

Her mother was dressed in a fitted black pencil skirt, a lace ivory blouse with a high collar and fishnet stockings. Rose could barely stop her face from conveying the horror she suddenly felt. It wasn't that Jackie didn't look beautiful, she did.

"Where'd you get those clothes?" she said, gaping.

"I found them," Jackie told her, matter of factly. "Do you like 'em?"

Rose wasn't buying the distraction. She knew all of Jackie's avoidances by now. "What do you mean '_found them_'?" she pressed on, her voice thick with implication.

"In a box, upstairs. I was lookin' for...Oh never you mind what I was lookin' for! Just look at the tailoring on this skirt, love, like it was made specially for me. Must have been Pete, he's so thoughtful. Do you think it's a present?"

Rose didn't have the heart to tell her _why_ they fitted her so well. She silently hoped Pete would be working late again. She didn't imagine he'd be too pleased to come home to find his current wife in his previous partner's clothing. A deceased partner who happened to look identical to Jackie in every aspect.

"Well if it _is_ a present, he won't be too happy to see you've been sneakin' round in his private business," she said, pretending to scold her.

Jackie looked suitably abashed. "Oh, maybe you're right. I'll put it all back later. Might just run a few errands in them first...Think I'll have a snack. You want somethin'? Dunno what's happened my appetite, I'm always hungry these days. Bleedin' parallel world!"

Her mother's mention of an increased appetite reminded Rose of a question she had been meaning to ask her. She highly doubted Jackie was oblivious to the possibility of being pregnant, especially when all the symptoms were seemingly there.

"Mum," she began trying to figure out how to word the question delicately. "I know this is gonna sound weird, right but you're not pr-" She was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening again. Mickey greeted them, smiling.

"Hello, love," Jackie said.

"Alright, Jacks?" Mickey replied. "Rose?"

Rose smiled in return.

"Any post for me?" he asked them.

"No idea. Haven't checked the mailbox today," Rose told him, lazily.

Mickey glanced at Rose, obviously noting that she was still in her dressing gown and slippers. Then he looked at the large clock that hung on the kitchen wall. "It's 4 PM. What you been doing all day, then?"

"Oh, you know...Important things. Watching television. Sleeping. Mainly just relaxing, really," she informed him cheekily, motioning to her rather large tub of ice-cream. Her tongue poked out from between her teeth as she grinned.

Mickey sighed lightly as he left the room to retrieve the mail. His mind was racing by the time he reached the bottom of the graveled driveway. Rose didn't even know how difficult she made this for him. When she smiled at him like that, it almost made him believe she wanted to give him another shot. Give _them_ another shot.

The two women were deep in conversation by the time Mickey reappeared. Their hands were intertwined on the kitchen counter.

"I _am _happy for you. So happy! It would just never work for me, Mum," he heard Rose say sadly.

Mickey felt the need to announce his return. This seemed personal and he didn't want them to think he was eavesdropping. "What would never work?" he joked.

They both straightened at his sudden arrival. "Oh, nothing," Rose replied quickly, waving her spoon in the air. "So was there any post?"

Mickey bit his lip. She obviously didn't want to talk about it so he wouldn't push her on the subject.

"Nah, just a loada junk mail. I mean look at this," he said, brandishing a flyer. "It's for a bloody beach somewhere in _Norway _of all places. As if! Probably be freezing and always raining and..." he trailed off.

Rose was staring at the leaflet in his hand. Her eyes were wide in disbelief. Her hand twitched once, as if she was trying to reach out for it but couldn't move. Mickey crossed the kitchen and handed it to her.

Her eyes scrutinized the image on the page intensely. She looked up at the others and gulped. Her breathing had become incredibly shallow.

"What's wrong, darlin'?" Jackie asked. She too had noticed the sudden change in her daughter's mood.

"Darlig Ulv Stranden," Rose said simply. As if that explained everything. Because, to her, it did. This was it. The sign she had long been waiting for.

She knew where they had to go.

**oOoOoOoOo**

**This is it guys, it all kicks off after this!**

**Until next time! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: If I owned Doctor Who or the rights to any of it's characters, I would not be here desperately trying to re-write something that aired eight years ago.**

**oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Rose walked down the familiar stretch of beach, trying to remember whereabouts she had met him in that dream. She glanced back, measuring the distance between her and her family. It seemed about right.

She looked around, momentarily worried. What if she had gotten it wrong? Travel between parallel worlds was impossible after all.

_No_, she told herself. _This is the place_.

Besides, she liked impossible. She turned to the right, looking for a sign.

And, all of a sudden, he was there.

** ooooo**

He stood before her, at last. Only it wasn't him. Not as she needed him. He wasn't even here, not really. He looked like a hologram.

"Where are you?" she asked his faded form. Rose knew she was failing to keep the devastation from her face.

"Inside the TARDIS. There's one tiny, little gap left in the Universe, just about to close. It takes a lot of power to send this projection, I'm in orbit around a supernova," he paused briefly to smile at her half-heartedly. "I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye."

"You look like a ghost!" she spluttered.

"Hold on," he said, frowning. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the TARDIS console and his image immediately solidified in front of her.

Rose wanted him so badly to be here. Stepping toward him, she raised a hand to his face. "Can I t-?"

The Doctor's eyes grew sadder as he realised what she was attempting to do. He shook his head. "I'm still just an image," he said. "Don't touch."

"Can't you come through properly?" she pleaded, although she already knew what the answer would be.

"The whole thing would fracture. Two Universes would collapse," he stated, softly.

"So?" Rose asked.

The Doctor laughed freely for a moment. She always said the last thing he expected. Rose allowed herself a genuine smile, too.

Then a thought dawned on her.

"Hang on, if you can't come through here, how am I supposed to get back with you?"

His smile slowly faded. "You can't," he replied simply.

"Yeah, I guess I already knew that. You said as much in that dream.. What was that, by the way, telepathy or somethin'?"

He stood there for a moment, perplexed. "Dream?" he asked. "Telepathy? I haven't done anything like that, Rose. How could I?"

"But I _saw_ this," she said. "Well not this exactly.."

The Doctor stared at her. He clearly wanted her to elaborate.

So Rose told him everything she could think of. About her dreams. And her nightmares. How she had known Jackie was pregnant before she had been told. How she had already known they would be meeting on a beach, even without his voice to guide her there. Why she had known that she wasn't going to be leaving here with him, after all.

By the time she had finished explaining, he was staring at her, mouth ajar.

"Oh," he said, evidently astonished. He stayed silent for a moment, processing what she had just told him. It was then that he noticed his surroundings. "Where are we? Where did the gap come out?" he wondered aloud.

"We're in Norway," she informed him.

"Norway, right," he nodded coolly, trying to make out like that had been his plan all along. Rose was tempted to laugh. This was so typical! Luckily for him he hadn't shown up six hours earlier, in time to see _Jackie's_ reaction to arriving in Norway. Parallel world or not, she'd been fit to _smack_ him. She had been trying to blame her latest outbursts on her hormones but Rose knew better. Any excuse to dish out a Tyler slap to the man who had taken her daughter from her.

"We're about fifty miles outside of Bergen," she continued, knowing he didn't have the faintest clue where they really were. "It's called Darlig Ulv Stranden."

"Dalek?" he said, panicking.

"Dar_lig_," she corrected. "It's Norwegian for bad." Rose couldn't resist the disbelieving laugh that escaped from her lips now. He raised his eyebrows at her in question and she shook her head in return. "This translates as Bad Wolf Bay!"

The Doctor's eyes widened. Rose wondered why he, too, wasn't laughing at the hideous irony of their situation.

"_Oh_," he suddenly shouted, "_but that's it_!"

Rose blinked in surprise. This had never happened in any of her dreams. "What's it?"

"Oh, it's so simple! Too simple! Really, very simple.. _Genius_, in fact! Rose Tyler.. Yes!"

She would be worried for his mental state, if he wasn't always so incoherent. She patiently waited for him to remember she was human. The Doctor quickly noticed her expression and explained himself.

"Don't you see? You.. Bad Wolf! Back on the Game Station, when you had the power of the Vortex running through your head, you took those two words and scattered them throughout time and space. Always in places you knew we'd be.. Always giving yourself a way to lead yourself back to me! You would never have put them here unless they _needed_ to be here! You saw this coming, Rose. Of course you did, you saw everything. You told me.. All that ever was. All that ever could be." He paused to run his hand through his hair. The movement made it stand on end. "Oh, I'm getting too old. I should have spotted it sooner. I get too distracted with saving planets that I overlook the small things. It's _never_ just a coincidence, never!"

"Doctor? What's going on?" she begged, her lips dry and her heart suddenly pounding.

"The breach isn't sealed, Rose. Not fully. There's the tiniest fissure of power seeping through. The power of the raw Vortex! Bad Wolf. Two single words in a universe they never should never have existed at all. _You_, Rose Tyler, are keeping Pete's World connected to your world. ..And _that's_ why you're able to dream within alternate realities!"

He finally paused and grinned manically at her. His hair was sticking up at every angle. Rose automatically reached up to flatten it before remembering at the last second that she couldn't touch him.

His eyes widened at her movement. "Your hair's a bit mad," she told him.

"Oh, thanks," he replied, raising his hand to tame it.

Rose took this brief moment to process what he had just told her. Hundreds of questions were running simultaneously through her head. She opted for the most important one. "So, if I'm keeping the breach open.. Does that mean that I can come back?" she asked, hardly daring to breathe.

The animation drained from his face, instantly. He sagged. "No," he said. "Not yet."

_Yet_? "Well, when then?"

"It's not that simple," he explained. "The breach is alive but not _active_. It could still go either way. It's too dangerous to risk anything right now. It's dormant. If we left it alone, it would close itself off, naturally. But if it we stretched it out now it would become _too_ large. Anything could force it's way through. Not just Cybermen and Daleks but entire _worlds_ and populations. New species. Bringing with them new beliefs and weapons. And old wars."

"So what do we do?" she wondered.

"There is a way," he admitted. Regret burned deep in his eyes. "It's up to you, Rose. Your choice."

He drew a deep intake of air before continuing. "The Torchwood on this planet has got the technology to erase your memory. All the time you spent with me. Every trace of us, everywhere we went, everything we did, forgotten."

Rose must have misheard him. "Forget about you? 'Bout us? Why would I wanna do that?"

"Because it won't _hurt_. Think about it. You could forget about all of it. Live a normal, human life with the family you've always wanted. A world where Pete Tyler is still alive. Where he's happily married to Jackie Tyler. His daft plans worked out and they're wealthy. You would never want for anything. You could have a normal, human life. A stable and happy relationship. Marriage and kids. Living in a house with a roof and a mortgage.. One adventure I can never have." he finished sincerely.

She knew exactly what the Doctor was doing. He was pushing her away. Again. Just like he had on the Game Station. Exactly like Torchwood. Whenever he got scared for her safety, he sent her away. He thought just because he was a Time Lord that he was capable of making decisions for everybody. It was so frustrating!

Her insides twisted. Had he not been listening when she had told him forever? Did he really not know her at all?

"Yeah, right. Me.. Normal," she scoffed, trying to make light of his suggestion. "Like _that's_ gonna happen! What's option two?"

"Rose," he began.

"Doctor, shut up" she said, shortly. "I'll decide this one for myself, ta. Now tell me. What is option two?"

He closed his eyes now, as if _he_ were the one in pain. "The energy from the breach is feeding on the strongest power source it can find within a close range. Memories. Real or fiction. Your dreams, or _nightmares_ rather, are all loosely based on your memories. Memories that contain all of space and time. _That's_ what is stretching the gap between this reality and mine. We need to force it wider, but just enough so you can pass back through, unnoticed. I'm sorry, Rose. I'm so sorry. But you wouldn't be able to forget it. Any of it. You'd have to re-live the most painful of your memories, your worst fears and your biggest regrets, every night, just to keep the breach active. Even then, it might not be enough."

Rose didn't have the heart to tell him that she already was living a nightmare without him.

His brown eyes opened and he stared intensely into her own, measuring her reaction.

"For how long?"

"Time progresses differently in this Universe. About two years, I think."

Two _years_? Rose felt her entire body slump in defeat. Two whole years in this world?

The air seemed to grow colder, bringing her crashing back to reality. "How long have we got?" she asked him, sadly.

"About two minutes," he told her, gravely.

"I can't think of what to say," she admitted lamely. The Doctor laughed at her human response.

Rose contemplated a life without the Doctor. Without the TARDIS. Without holding his hand and running for her life. She tried to imagine never again seeing his enigmatic grin light up a room. Her heart tightened at the prospect.

In exchange she would have to endure two years on this earth. Two years of normality. Of boredom. Two more years of her nightmares.

Or she could erase it. Forget the constant pain she had felt for the past three months. Forget the contrast between the cool touch of his hand and warm beam of his smile. Forget what it was like to get lost in the depths of his ancient eyes. Forget what it was like to be consumed by love for a being who she couldn't have a normal future with. Not ever.

And then she decided.

"I'll do it," she told him.

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something but then decided against it and closed it again. He stared at her and for once in his nine hundred years, words failed him.

Then he realised he was wasting time. The one time he couldn't turn it back.

"Soon the Torchwood on this planet should begin work on something called a dimension cannon," he told her quickly now. "You'll need to be there, be involved with it. That will be the device that will spring you from this world, back into mine. You'll know when it's ready. You should be classed as a contaminate and this reality will start to force you out, via the breach. I can't say more, there's no time. I wish I could. I'm sorry."

She nodded. She, too, could feel their time here was ending. There was still something she needed to tell him. Something important. She opened her mouth, wondering where to even begin.

"I-I-" she stammered. Rose suddenly felt very insignificant. Realising that it might be now or never, she inhaled deeply, trying to muster the courage. All the things she had seen over the past couple of years and she was scared of three little words.

_Sod it, _she thought. She had destroyed the Emperor of the Daleks, had watched her father die, she could manage to tell one bloody Time Lord how she felt. She gathered her composure and looked him directly in the eye.

"I love you."

Rose was struck by how empty her voice sounded. She had spoken with a fierce conviction but it had come out sounding more like an echo. She knew it was just a matter of seconds now before they were separated once more.

A long moment seemed to pass them by. His brown eyes shone with understanding and she knew he felt the same way. In a way she had always known.

"Quite right, too," he said finally, smiling. "And, I suppose.. If it's my last chance to say it.."

The Doctor paused with the significance of this one single moment, weighing the foreign words on his tongue.

"Rose Tyler, I-"

And with that he faded out of her existence.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

**A/N**

**I'm so sorry that I had to do that with the ending!**

**There were just so many reasons that the actual ending of Doomsday was so heart-wrenching. One of those reasons was that The Doctor never got the chance to tell Rose how he felt. I thought it was important for his story that he live with that regret until they meet again. That scene was just so powerful, I didn't want to do anything to take away from it.**

**Thank you so much for reading!**

**Love**

**xx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, or any of these characters.**

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Mum, you don't even work here. You shouldn't even be getting a vote!"

"Like heck I don't! We're talkin' about your safety, ain't we? Well, I'm your mother. That makes me the most qualified person in this room, I reckon. And I'm telling you it's too dangerous, love. Please will you just listen to me? Just this once?" Jackie pleaded.

Mickey was nodding his head in agreement. "She's right, Rose. You don't even know if this will work. What if it doesn't? What happens to you then? What if you got hurt.. Or worse! You could be split in half or somethin'!"

"I don't understand why you can't let someone else test the stupid thing!" Jackie put in.

"You think I'm going to let someone else risk their life for me? Say it works and someone else gets stuck in another universe? What if it only works once and I never get to use it? What do I do then?"

"It's too big a risk to take, why can't you see it?" Mickey was practically shouting with frustration.

"Then that would be my risk to take, Mickey. My choice."

"Well, maybe it shouldn't be," he said quietly.

"What did you say?"

"I said it _shouldn't_ be your choice. Not exactly like you've got good judgement when it comes to the Doctor. You just do whatever he tells you to do. Then he just runs off and leaves everyone else to clean up after him! Remember the time he told you to wait while he ran off and _popped_ Madame de Pompador?"

Rose recoiled as if she'd been slapped. She had called them all together to vote on whether she should be the one to test the dimension cannon when it was ready. She wanted to hear their thoughts on it. But this was going too far.

"That's enough, Mickey," Pete interjected sharply.

Arguments always had a way of turning personal with Mickey. She knew it was only because he cared. He didn't want her to get hurt, physically or emotionally. Unfortunately, when it came to Rose, he had his own biases. He wanted her to stay on this world for his own reasons. He couldn't seem to accept it was over between them and it was making things difficult.

"Let's just put it down to a vote, shall we?" she asked, trying to keep her cool. Not that she cared what the results would be. She would be using the cannon one way or the other.

She addressed the room now. "Everyone who is against this, raise your hand," she instructed.

Mickey's hand shot up. It was quickly followed by Jackie's. Including the two other Torchwood members who voted, the final opposing vote was four.

"All those in favour of me doing this?"

Rose raised her own hand defiantly as she voiced the question. One hand went up. Then another. Jake momentarily met Mickey's gaze before dropping his eyes to the ground. Slowly he too raised his hand.

There was only one person in the room who had yet to cast a vote. Eight pairs of eyes were fixed on Pete Tyler. He was staring intently at Jackie. Rose saw him silently mouth an apology to his wife before lifting his own hand.

"That makes it five to four. The motion passes," Pete announced dully to no-one in particular.

There was barely time to register the betrayal on Jackie's face before she stormed out of the room. "She's your daughter," she spat at Pete as she left.

Silence hung in the air in her wake.

Fighting to keep back the tears, Rose turned to face Pete. Jackie was right. She counted this man as her father in every way that mattered. She was incredibly touched by what he had just done for her. "Thank you," she managed to choke out.

"That's alright, love. She'll understand someday. Might even forgive me!" His expression turned serious now. "I'd do the same thing if it was her lost out there. Find him, Rose."

"I'm gonna try, Dad." She kissed him lightly on the cheek.

A blush crept across Pete's face. He cleared his throat. "Right, I'd better go and find her before she makes me sleep in the car again. My back can't take much more! All I did last time was forget to pick up the milk.. Four hours shoutin' on my own doorstep! Ridiculous! I'll see you at home."

One by one the others in the room began to file out. Jake paused briefly to squeeze Rose's shoulder in support before pushing past Mickey.

"Thanks Jake," she called after him. Then she turned to face Mickey.

"Jake only agreed with you 'cos he wants to shag you," he told her petulantly.

A hysterical giggle burst through her lips at the sheer notion of it. It was just impossible to stay angry at Mickey. "Trust me, I'm not his type," she informed him.

"What's his problem with me anyway?" Mickey wanted to know.

Rose knew exactly what Jake's deal was. You could see it from space! Everyone knew the what the nature of Jake's relationship with Ricky had been. It was clear as day that he was now falling for Mickey. Obvious to everybody except Mickey, it seemed.

Nevertheless, it wasn't her place to say. Rose shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't ask me."

He studied her face for a long moment. He could tell she knew more than she was letting on.

"I'm not telling you Mick! Have you tried.. Oh I dunno, _asking_ him?"

"I've tried! He just gets defensive. Says it's nothin'. Everything's fine and then a couple of days later I catch him starin' at me and he gets all funny again. Out of nowhere! I don't know, Rose. He's just so bloody changeable lately!"

Rose said nothing. She simply shook her head. Mickey truly could be oblivious sometimes.

_Mickey the idiot_, she thought to herself. A northern accent stained the words as they formed in her head.

The memory made her smile. It had been a while since she had thought about this version of the Doctor. Rose felt guilty as she pictured him in his crew neck jumper and oversized leather jacket. She should remember him more often, really. This was the man she had originally fallen for. The same man who had taken her hand in that basement all those years ago. A complete stranger with the daft grin who had told her to run. She had put her trust in his hands so easily. She had run with him and never looked back.

No, she had never regretted it. She trusted him. Even when he changed his face. Every time he had sent her away. Even when he ran off to be with Reinette without so much as a backwards glance. Rose felt her heart twisting. It still hurt to think about that. They had never talked about it. Rose wasn't sure she wanted to know. True, they had both made mistakes but Rose couldn't find it in herself to regret her decision to go with him that night.

It had been almost two and a half years since she had last seen him. There had been no further contact between them. Sure, they were all working on the dimension cannon but it was hard to know when it would be ready, if ever. None of them had anything tangiable to go on. Rose felt like screaming. She was basing her life on something a projection told her over two years ago. An _alien_ projection. She was working on little more than blind faith. Faith, hope and love. And nightmares. She was still having the nightmares. The Doctor had told her they would continue. Surely this meant that everything was going according to plan?

"Rose?" she heard Mickey ask in the distance. He clicked his fingers in front of her face, trying to get her attention.

Rose blinked several times, attempting to clear her thoughts. It was no use. No matter what she did the Doctor was always in her head.

**oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

**Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for sticking with me!**

**Until next time!**

**xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. If only.**

**oOoOoOoOo**

Rose Tyler was pacing the length of her Torchwood office. A frown was etched deep on her face. She glanced at her watch for the third time in two minutes, sighing. She was supposed to be in UNIT headquarters right now. There had been a cannon jump scheduled for an hour ago but she had failed to show up. She had called Sergeant Delaney and made her excuses but the truth was Rose couldn't face another disappointment. Not today.

For months it had been one disaster after another. Parallel world after parallel world, all of them wrong. Sure, these worlds had things in common with her version of earth but they just felt _off_ somehow. The jumps were becoming riskier, too. Last week she had landed slap bang in the middle of a military testing ground. She had spent the day being interrogated by army personnel. Eventually the shift had ended and she had been pulled back but it wasn't the most pleasant of days.. Three weeks previously she had found herself on a private estate being chased by a dozen viscous hounds. Climbing wire fences or sitting in a cell didn't exactly contribute to her search for the Doctor.

Time was, Rose thought wryly, that being hauled up in a jail cell used to be fun. Back when she had him for company. Then again, she couldn't imagine there was anywhere in the whole of creation that she wouldn't enjoy just _being_ with him.

Rose came to rest and sat perched on top of her desk, letting her legs swing freely off the edge. The TARDIS key hung on a chain around her neck. She had taken to wearing it there again, close to her heart. She tucked the key out from underneath her shirt now and held it in her palm. It was stone cold to the touch.

It had been three years to the day since she'd last seen the Doctor. Three years instead of the two he had promised her and Rose had felt every minute of it. She wondered if it had seemed as long for him. She doubted it. The TARDIS kept shifts of night and day but with all the travelling, it was impossible to keep track of linear time there. He could have easily taken a quick trip into the future in order to find her. He always did hate waiting.

The telephone behind her rang, pulling Rose from her thoughts. She glanced at the caller ID before answering. It was Jake.

"Hiya Rose! There's a Seargant Delaney here to see you. And Ange wants a quick word?"

"Thanks Jake. Send them both up."

The elevator chimed and the two women emerged. Angela Morris was babbling at top speed. Sergeant Delaney had a pained look on her expression. Rose could only imagine how awkward the elevator ride up had been. They really were chalk and cheese. The only thing that made the young Agent Morris identifiable as a member of Torchwood staff was the white lab coat and swipe card that hung from her neck. Sergeant Delaney, however, seemed to embody her UNIT uniform. Everything about the woman said _disciplined_ whereas everything about Angela said _chaos_.

"Agent Tyler," Sergeant Delaney said formally, saluting her.

"Stop it," Rose warned fondly. She liked the woman but hated the saluting. She gestured to Angela, "I see you two met downstairs."

"We did," Delaney confirmed with a curt nod. "I hope you've recovered from your recent case of food poisoning, Miss Tyler."

"I have. False alarm! I didn't want to risk jumping with a dodgy stomach. It's not too comfortable at the best of times, you know?"

Delaney held a level gaze the entire time and Rose knew that she wasn't fooling anyone. Delaney barely skipped a beat before asking, "have you lost your motivation, Agent?"

"What? No, not at all!" Rose replied hastily.

"Good. You need to remain committed to this. We'll get a lot more work done if we're focused. If you're losing interest then I'll need to know."

"I'm not saying that! There's just gotta be some other way that isn't so dangerous. I need to be able to go about my business in peace. You know, without fear of getting locked up for being a space hopping nutter? I can't keep drawing attention to myself. People are gonna cop it sooner or later!"

"You don't have to keep doing this, Rose," Angela pointed out softly.

"That's where you're wrong. I _need_ to do this, Ange. There's just gotta be better way of mapping the co-ordinates more precisely. I can't keep landing in the middle of trouble. It's going to get us noticed. Or get me hurt. I wanna get back to the Doctor in one piece is all!"

"You may be working with some of the finest minds in the world, Miss Tyler but that doesn't mean any of us have any real experience with anything on this scale. This device is unique. We exhausted every mean for two years just to get you on the correct planet. We have done as much as we can do. The rest is up to you."

Rose felt defeated. So much for that. "I'm sorry. You're all working very hard and you're doing a fantastic job. I'm grateful, I really am. It's just.. The Doctor told me so many times that something was impossible yet here we are. Through trial and error. And perseverance. It's incredible. You're all just so brilliant. I know he'd agree with me. I just need to know that I've tried everything before I give up."

Sergeant Delaney looked more approachable when she next spoke. "You have my word Agent Tyler. We are doing everything in our power to assist you. However you'll need to accept that some things are still too advanced for this world."

Rose considered this. "Okay. So that's a _no_ to a more exact landing. So is there any way to make landing more discreet? Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get an alleyway but most of the time it's in the middle of the day. People don't half get a fright when they see me charging at 'em!"

"I can check it out, Rose but I don't think that's possible," Morris admitted, looking down at her feet.

"Blimey. If only I was invisible, this would all be a whole lot easier, right?" Rose joked.

Angela looked up with an audible gasp. Delaney looked at her once to convey her annoyance and proceeded to ignore the interruption.

"As I was just saying, we will have someone look into it but you should be prepared to be disappointed on these matters. In the meantime you can't be missing shifts. It's costing us time and resources."

Angela was starting to fidget impatiently. It was quite distracting.

"Ange? You need the loo or something?" Rose prompted.

"Loo? What? No, I was thinking about what you said earlier. Your problem? Well, what if it's not such a problem? I mean I might have a solution. Will you come with me?"

Sergeant Delaney looked across at Rose who shrugged. She hopped off the desk and raised a hand to Angela.

"Lead the way, Agent."

**oooooo**

The Torchwood offices were based on seniority within the company. Rose's own office was on the top floor. Angela's office was located on the floor directly below. She swiped her pass key and the door opened. She continued chatting as she crossed the room and started to rummage in her desk drawer.

"What if it's not about being invisible as such? It's just about not being _visible_, right?"

Rose felt her head start to spin as she attempted to follow Angela's logic. At times like this it was always better to pretend she was keeping up, that much she had learned from her time with the Doctor. "Um, okay?"

"Well then I think I have just the thing! If only I could find it.." Angela closed the current drawer and moved on to the next one. She rooted for a moment under various take-out menus and finally retrieved the item she was searching for. In her hand, she held a tarnished bronze ring. In Rose's opinion it had seen better days. Though, judging by the look on Angela's face, it might as well have been the winning lottery ticket.

"I don't think I said I had a fashion emergency Ange," Rose said, laughing.

"Fashion? Oh, no! Just watch. It's pretty self explanatory." And with that she slipped the ring onto her index finger.

Instantly, Rose felt her eyes wander. She scolded herself. She was supposed to be focusing on whatever Angela was trying to show her yet she couldn't seem to keep her focus. She forced her eyes back to the spot where Ange was standing but they soon drifted off to the right. Rose tried once more, in vain, to focus on Agent Morris but it was no good. Looking at her just felt _wrong_.

She saw Delaney rubbing her own eyes, as if to try dislodge something. "You too, huh?" she asked her. Delaney shook her head slightly and then nodded. It took a lot to unnerve Sergeant Delaney. Whatever this thing was, Rose was impressed. She had seen enough.

"Okay Ange, you can take it off now." Angela took off the ring. Rose felt better already.

"What exactly is that?"

"Isn't it great? I found it years ago. Back when I first started working here. I noticed that people were ignoring me whenever I was wearing it. But it's more than that because they weren't ignoring me intentionally. They could see me if they tried to. But it doesn't make you invisible, either. It just alters a person's _perception_ of your visibility is all," she told them proudly.

"What, like a perception filter? Sergeant Delaney asked, still looking a little shaken.

"Perception filter, that's it!" Rose exclaimed. "Good one Sarge!"

The sergeant hated Rose's nickname for her. The distaste was evident on her face.

"This is perfect," Rose said, beaming at Morris. It wasn't what she had been hoping for but Rose could feel the flutter of possibility in her stomach. This would help her get one step closer to the Doctor. She turned to address Sergeant Delaney.

"Sergeant? I think I'm ready for that shift now."

**oOoOoOoOo**

**Another chapter down!**

**I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has taken the time to read/review my story so far. I'm having a great time writing it so I hope you're enjoying reading it!**

**Much love.**

**xx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: No, Doctor who is still not mine. Yes, I'm still wishing.**

**oOoOoOo**

Jackie sauntered into the Tyler's living room. "Right, you two. I'm off to the salon. The caterering company will be arriving at six. I want you both here for seven."

Pete and Rose groaned simultaneously. "Jacks, why are we bothering to go through with this charade again?" Pete asked his wife. "Everybody already knows it's a lie!"

Jackie was insisting on throwing him a fortieth birthday party, despite the fact that Pete hadn't actually _been_ forty in years. But since Jackie was still lying about her age and refused to let people think she was married to an older man, Pete had been roped into keeping up the lie.

"They know no such thing," Jackie retorted. "We have a bleedin' image to maintain, Pete. Which is why you'll all be dressed smartly. Rose, can you help Tony pick out something nice to wear when he wakes up from his nap?"

"I can't, Mum," Rose told her. "I've got another jump at five o clock."

"Oh, what do you mean another one? That's your second one today!" Jackie exclaimed. "I hope they're payin' you for all this overtime."

"It's not work, Mum. The jump will only last a couple of hours, max. I'll be coming here straight after so I won't have time to get all dressed up," Rose informed her.

"And I'd rather just go to the pub for a quiet pint," Pete began hopefully.

Jackie cut him off with a withering look. "You will be here, _both_ of you. Not at UNIT and _not_ at the pub. And you will both make an effort by wearing something nice. That clear?"

Rose sighed in defeat. It didn't appear that they had any say in the matter. Taking their silence as agreement, Jackie's smile was a satisfied one as she left the room.

"Another jump, eh? That's promising. How's it all going, love?" Pete asked her as soon as they were alone.

"Just more of the same," she told him gravely. "Another wrong planet. More problems. Even less stars. By far the worst I've seen so far, Dad." Her voice wavered as she recalled it. "There was just nothing. No hope. No joy. Just fear and despair and the never ending darkness as far as the eye could see. They kept reaching out for someone to help them and I just walked past. They couldn't see me but I could still see them! There was just nothing I could do." Tears pricked her eyes as she recalled the scene.

Pete was listening intently. "The perception filter is still working then, I take it?"

She nodded. "Unless I do something stupid to draw attention to myself, I can go by completely unnoticed. That won't stop the Darkness from coming here though, will it? What do we do then?"

Pete had no answer. Rose had expected as much.

"The Doctor would know what to do. If I could just _find_ him, Dad. It's been over three years now. I've done everything he told me to do with Torchwood and the canon. I'm still having those dreams every night and still nothing! I can't even get to the right _dimension_! Where is he? He should be here because I can't get there and I don't know what else I can do..."

Rose let out the breath she'd been holding. The tears overflowed and splashed onto her cheeks. Pete gently took her by the forearms before enveloping her in a hug. He soothed her until her sobbing subsided.

After a few moments Rose felt the sobs pass. She pulled back from Pete's chest and was alarmed to see two black stains on the front of his clean shirt. Wiping her eyes, she soon discovered her mascara was the culprit.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I've only gone and ruined your new shirt.." Rose trailed off as she took a closer look at this shirt.

Usually Pete Tyler was very well dressed in dark suits and collared shirts. Today however, that could not be said about him. For some reason, he was wearing a button down shirt in a peculiar shade of salmon. Between his hair colouring and pale complexion, it wasn't exactly doing him any favours.

Pete wrinkled his nose in response. "I'd say it was ruined to begin with."

Rose raised an eyebrow curiously. "Your mother bought it," he explained. "Apparently it keeps me looking forty, which is complete bollox because I'm not sodding forty! Honestly, every year this bloody façade of hers!" He tugged briefly at the collar. "A shirt I can manage but if she even _asks_ me to consider getting work done I'm using that cannon of yours to get as far away as possible!"

Rose giggled as she glanced at her watch. "I'd better head off," she told him. "I'll see you tonight then."

"Good luck with the jump," he replied.

"Thanks Dad," she told him.

"For what?" Pete wanted to know.

"Just...Thanks."

Pete blushed a deep red. Rose had thought the shirt couldn't get any worse. She was wrong.

"You will show up tonight, won't you? I can't face your Mum if you don't!"

Rose stuck her thumb up at him like she had done when they'd first met. "You can trust me," she reminded him.

**oOoOoOo**

**That's another chapter down guys. Just a short one this time. Sorry about any spelling mistakes, I just raced through it!**

**Hope you all liked it!**

**xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Does it need saying? Yes, it does. I do not own Doctor Who.**

**oOoOoOo**

The party was already in full swing by the time Rose returned home that evening.

She easily identified her mother in the center of the room, lapping up the attention she was getting for her choice of attire. Tonight, she had chosen a slinky black floor-length number with a dipped back and fishtail skirt. A long way away from the brightly coloured velour tracksuits of the Powell Estates, she looked stunning. Rose was proud as she watched her work her way around the room with confidence. Jackie really had adapted to Pete's lifestyle seamlessly. She had everything she had ever wanted out of life. It made Rose feel better about the prospect of eventually leaving her.

She bounded up to her mother happily, eager to congratulate her on having such a successful party. Rose was in such a hurry she came to a halt just inches from Jackie's face.

"Hiya mum! Seems like a great party," she said brightly.

There was no response from Jackie. Rose quickly checked her hands to make sure she had taken off the perception filter. Her fingers were bare.

She waved a hand directly in front of Jackie's face. "Hello? Mum?"

Recognition immediately flickered across Jackie's features. "_Rose_! There you are! Better late than never, I suppose." She looked her daughter up and down. "Why haven't you changed? Quickly, run upstairs and put something decent on."

"I just wanted to tell you-" Rose started but Jackie was staring right through her again. Her mother had always had her moments but this was absurd. It was as if she couldn't even see her. Rose opened her mouth to try again but Jackie was already calling out a greeting to a woman across the room.

She was just stressed from all the party planning, Rose told herself firmly. There was nothing else it could be. The least she could do was go and put on something more formal. Her mother would never intentionally ignore her. Rose smiled. She had a dress in her wardrobe that would ensure all eyes would be on her.

She was just heading towards her room when she came across a familiar figure slumped on the stairs. Her alternate-father. Pete Tyler looked fed up.

"Hi dad," she greeted him.

"Rose," Pete looked relieved at the sheer sight of her. "Am I glad to see you!"

At least _he_ noticed her, Rose thought to herself. "Having fun then?" she asked him sarcastically.

"I miss the Cybermen," he replied with a dry laugh. "How was your cannon jump?"

Rose beamed just thinking about it. "Fantastic! Really, really good. Guess where I landed, Dad?"

Pete's eyes widened. He understood exactly what she was telling him. "Earth? _Your_ Earth?" he said, in a disbelieving tone before breaking into an impressed smile.

She nodded fervently. "I'm pretty sure of it. Slap bang in the middle of an invasion an' all! You should have seen it. People had been taking these capsules, right? These miracle pills for losing weight. But they must've been alien because the people who had taken them were literally being torn apart and the excess fat was turning into creatures and walking off down the street! They were actually really cute too- "

Rose slowed down as soon as she realized Pete had no idea what she was talking about. Talking at such a speed was a habit she had picked up from the Doctor, which was handy when trying to confuse or impress somebody but not so much in this case.

She rearranged her thoughts and tried to describe the scene better. "Anyways, whoever was on these pills were being pulled apart to form these creatures and it looked as if there was gonna be nothing left of these poor people. But then it just stopped. There was this light...Like a transportation beam and all the creatures started floating up into the sky. There must have been a spaceship nearby!"

"What happened to the people involved?" he asked, expecting the worst.

"Oh no. They were all fine! Absolutely terrified but that didn't stop some of them bragging about their miraculous weight loss! As always they found a way to deny it had even happened." Rose shook her head in bemusement. The human race would never cease to amaze her.

Pete took a second before he dared to ask the one question she had been dreading. "Any sign of the Doctor?"

Rose deflated. "None. It must have been him though, Dad. I followed the beam but I couldn't see him. I waited for an hour at the scene afterwards for any sign but there was just nothing."

Then Rose remembered something else.

"No, not nothing. Something happened. Something extraordinary. Someone _saw_ me."

"Actually saw you? While you were wearing the perception filter? How is that even possible?" Pete asked.

"It's not supposed to be. Not unless I do something to cause it. But this woman with red hair just ran right up to me. Started talking nonsense. Asked me to point out a bin to a lady who was on her way."

"What happened then?" Pete wanted to know.

"Nothing," Rose admitted glumly. "The shift phased out so I never got to find out who she was. She was important, Dad. I just know it."

"What do you think it means, love?"

Rose opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by the sound of screams coming from the direction of the kitchen. She looked to Pete in panic and saw the same look of confusion on his face.

**oooooo**

The crowd were gathered out on the patio, sheer terror evident on their faces. Rose looked around for a visible threat but there didn't appear to be one.

She ran straight for her mother. "What is it, Mum? Are you hurt?"

Jackie turned to face her daughter and husband. Wordlessly, she looked up at the sky. Rose followed her gaze and was greeted by a sight she had seen many times before.

One by one, the stars were going out.

Eventually Jackie found her voice. "What is it, sweetheart? What's happening? And _why_ haven't you changed?"

Rose wanted desperately to reassure her family. To offer some small words of comfort. But she knew what this meant. It was the beginning of the end.

"It's the Darkness," she told them, unable to stop the fear from catching in her throat.

_You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about, half naked. For shame. And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past. And the birds in the sky...No, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you, you've flown so far, further than anyone! The things you've seen. The Darkness...The big Bad Wolf._

Rose jerked away from the memory, reeling in shock. All that time ago, Gwyneth had known about Bad Wolf. Rose had never realized that she had foreseen the Darkness, too.

So whatever was happening now was a fixed point in time. The Doctor was quite drawn to these things. There was some comfort to be taken from that, she supposed.

"Rose?" Pete called out, his concerned voice snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I'm alright," she assured him.

"What do we do?" he asked her.

Rose considered all she had done. All she had seen. This time though, there was nothing she could do. This was bigger than all of them. This was spreading out across the Universes.

"I'm sorry. I don't know," she told them honestly.

**oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

**Once again, thanks for reading...Until next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I'm guilty of wanting to own Doctor Who but unfortunately I don't. **

**oOoOoOoOo**

Rose arrived at the restaurant early, choosing the table furthest away from public view. Angela Morris had called her earlier that day, requesting they meet up here but it would seem she was running late.

Twenty minutes later the young girl showed up, appearing to be in quite the fluster. She looked around the restaurant before sliding into an empty seat.

Rose stood and beckoned her, attempting to grab her attention but was no use. Angela failed to notice.

_So much for private_, Rose thought. Conceding, she gathered up her things and made her way to Angela's table in the centre of the room.

Angela looked up, sensing her approach. She smiled and gave a friendly wave. "Agent Tyler, hi! I didn't see you come in. Did you get stuck in the same traffic jam as me?"

Rose frowned. Angela was really unobservant today. "I've been sat here for a while, Ange."

"Really?" Something flickered across Angela's face before dismissing it quickly. "It must be me, sorry. It's like I'm on an entirely different planet today! No offence," she added.

"None taken," Rose said with a laugh. "Now what's all this in order of? Why couldn't we have met in my office?"

Angela nodded once, immediately she was all business.

"I couldn't risk this falling into the wrong hands," she told Rose in a serious voice before digging into her handbag. She retrieved an item and laid it on the table between them.

Rose reached out to examine it. "This sort of looks like the button we used to jump between worlds," Rose muttered to herself, flipping the familiar object over in her hand.

"It sort of _is_," Morris agreed.

"But these are all dead. As in _all of them_. Believe me, I've tried." And she had. Rose had tried the yellow discs repeatedly over the past three years, hoping that she could simply take a short-cut to the Doctor. It had been a long shot and the devices remained inactive. To her disappointment, it seemed the walls of the Universe were still firmly in place.

"You're right, they were all dead. Recently I was approached by a couple of people who wanted me to recreate them. They didn't want a replica of the device but requested a newer model, an upgrade with a few modifications," Agent Morris informed her.

Rose wondered where exactly this conversation was going.

"The people who approached me," Angela finally elaborated, "were Mrs Tyler and Mr Smith."

Rose was shocked. "Mum and Mickey asked you to do this? Why would they even _want_ such a thing? They know the damage these things can do."

"As I said," Morris pointed out, "they didn't want the exact same device that was used three years ago, they did ask me to modify them."

"What sort of modifications did they want?" Rose asked.

"Well, they wanted me to install an alert, so they'd know when the walls were breaking down."

Rose was incredulous."They did all this because they were afraid I wouldn't tell them when it time for me to leave?!" This was unbelievable. Of course they deserved an opportunity to say goodbye properly but she was appalled that they had gone to all this effort just to know when she would _leave_.

She waited for Angela to confirm her suspicions but it looked as though the young woman wasn't finished speaking yet.

"There's more?" Rose guessed.

Angela grimaced. "They wanted to be able to measure timelines. _Your_ timeline, to be specific."

"But why?" Rose asked, feeling a deep crease start to form on her forehead.

Angela pretended she hadn't heard, avoiding the question entirely.

"There's one more thing they wanted," she looked up meeting Rose's eyes momentarily. "They requested a thirty minute charge period between jumps."

Then the answer dawned on Rose.

"They think the Doctor is going to send me away again and they don't want me to be able to go back again if he does. They don't believe he'll wait a measly _half_ _an hour_ for me? Do they really think he'd just leave me?"

"Jackie hopes the Doctor will make the right choice and send you back to her again."

"Oh, that's just ridiculous, he's the one who came up with the whole idea! As if he'd do that if he didn't want me."

"Clearly, they don't agree. They think they can stop you before it's too late. And they plan on getting you back if you leave."

"Hold on," Rose said. "I'm not getting this. So my mum and my ex come to you asking you to make this medallion for them, and you just say yes?" Rose was surprised by this. She had always assumed Agent Morris was on her side. Mind you, her own family were apparently sabotaging her plans behind her back..

"I did.," Angela admitted. "I'm sorry, Rose,"

"But why, Ange?"

"The darkness, Rose. It's coming, this intergalactic threat from across the stars. It has no physical form. How are we supposed to fight something that isn't tangible, something that should even exist? None of us at Torchwood know how. Nobody on this world has any experience with anything like this.. Except you. It's selfish, I know but we need you here. We might not have the Doctor but we do have you."

Rose was rendered speechless. Angela was thrusting this authority at her and she didn't want it, not without him. It wasn't that she didn't want to live up to the title he had bestowed upon her. She wanted to be defender of the earth, just not _this_ earth.

She had to make Angela understand. "I can't help any more than you can. I have no idea what we're dealing with here, not the faintest clue what to do. If you're depending on me then I'm sorry but you're wasting your time. It's advancing and the only man who would know how to stop it is dimensions away. If I can't reach him, we're all dead."

"I know," Agent Morris replied. "I just wanted to let you know."

Rose looked at the device in her hands. There was something she was missing here. "Why are you telling me this?"

Angela met her gaze with a faint smile. "Because I did it, that's why. That is the prototype you're holding. The hopper _works_, Rose."

**oOoOoOoOo**

**Thanks for staying with me.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who which is a pity because I really miss Ten and Rose.**

**oOoOoOoOo**

Rose picked up the small plaque that sat on the desk in front of her, a look of distaste evident on her face. It read: _Dr. Julia Atkinson, Chief Medical Practitioner_. Rose rolled her eyes. As far as she was concerned, this was just a fancy way of saying this woman was _the_ doctor. This particular title did not bode well with her.

Dr. Julia closed the filing cabinet, having located the dossier she was searching for. She glanced at it briefly before turning to take her seat opposite Rose.

"Oh, Miss Tyler," she said, jumping slightly, clearly startled at Rose's sudden presence. "I hope you haven't been waiting long. How are you feeling today?"

Rose was worried by the woman's reaction, something strange was going on and she wasn't quite sure what it was.

This had been happening to her an awful lot lately, people not noticing her. Cashiers would look on as she waited to pay in stores, people would accidentally bump into her on the street without even acknowledging they had done so, payslips she received had entire days missing at a time when she had, in fact, been working those days. Even her own family would look straight through her sometimes with vacant expressions on their faces.

If she had to guess the cause of it, Rose would have said it was just residual energy left over from wearing the perception filter but having spoken to Angela Morris and been reassured otherwise, that theory didn't make any sense. Angela was convinced Rose was so used to going by unnoticed that she now just wasn't making herself present enough in general. From the sound of it, Morris thought it was intentional on Rose's part.

Rose knew it was more than that. She knew it sounded crazy but at times it was almost as if she didn't _exist_.

"Yeah, fine," Rose told Dr. Atkinson honestly. It was true. Physically, she had never felt better.

Julia referred to her file again, her glasses sliding down her nose at the movement. "You were in two weeks ago suffering from light-headedness and you were also having trouble sleeping, is that correct?"

Rose sighed, she did not want to be here. This was a colossal waste of her time, not to mention all _Jackie's_ fault. Having caught Rose asleep at her desk again, Jackie had decided to take 'affirmative action'. This action, however, could not simply be taken at Torchwood where they had specially trained medical staff. No, Rose had to go and see a 'proper doctor'.

"Not exactly, no," Rose corrected, inwardly cursing her mother. "I'm sleeping just fine, it's _staying awake_ that seems to be the problem."

Her nightmares were becoming more and more intense recently, striking her at any moment, often causing her to nod off in the middle of the day.

"Ah, yes." Atkinson jotted something down in Rose's file before asking, "And the light-headedness?"

"I mentioned that once," Rose bluffed. "My mother has a tendency to blow these things out of proportion. Honestly, you should never take what she says seriously. If you diagnosed me as a hypochondriac, she'd ask you to prescribe me something for it!"

Rose laughed a little too enthusiastically, hoping to sell the lie. The truth was she _had_ said she'd been feeling light-headed. It wasn't that she felt unwell but she definitely wasn't feeling herself. It wasn't that Rose felt light-headed exactly, it was more a sensation of floating, in a way. She'd often feel like she was drifting along, in another state of consciousness. It was a surreal, out of body experience. She couldn't seem to recall long periods of time, leaving her unsure of where she had been or what she had been doing during that time.

Julia removed her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. She almost looked to be disappointed as she spoke. "I'm sorry Miss Tyler. I've got the results back and there doesn't appear to _any_ abnormalities."

Rose was impressed. This visit was quicker than she had imagined it would be. "Well there you go then, that's great! Nothing to worry about. I'll be on my way so. Good to see you again." She started to head towards the door, eager to get out of there.

"Your blood levels are all normal," the doctor continued without looking up. Rose reluctantly slumped back to her chair. It didn't look like she'd be getting out of here any time soon after all.

"You're not deficient in iron or any vitamins. You tell me you're getting plenty of sleep. You don't fit the profile for vertigo or anaemia. You're not narcoleptic. You don't think you've been exposed to any toxic chemicals or gases as of late."

She took a long look at Rose, a troubled look on her face.

"This is the first time in thirty years that the only diagnosis I have to offer is a clear bill of health. In fact, I'd go so far as to say you're in the best physical shape of your life."

Rose couldn't figure out what this woman was so upset about. "Then what's the problem?" she asked impatiently.

"Nothing, it would seem and, in a way, that _is_ the problem. Rose, you don't have so much as a paper-cut. Not a bruise or a scratch. Not one calcium spot on your nail."

"Well what's wrong with that?" Rose asked defensively.

"You don't understand. I've been doing this for thirty-four years. Never once have I come across a patient that didn't have so much as a blemish."

"I guess I just take good care of myself," Rose joked even though she knew that wasn't remotely true. _Jeopardy friendly_, that's what she was.

"It's not that," Dr. Atkinson looked nervous, like she was trying to confess something. "Miss Tyler, I took your blood last week. I turned around to get a cotton swab to disinfect the puncture wound and by the time I turned back around, I was unable to locate the needle mark again."

"So? You probably just missed it. Don't give yourself a hard time, we all make mistakes," Rose allowed when really this entire conversation was starting to unnerve her.

"That's not what I'm saying. I was looking directly where it should have been. I'm telling you, the wound was completely _healed_."

Rose sat in silence, she had absolutely no explanation for this. What exactly was this woman implying? Whatever it was, Rose didn't like it.

"I have never seen healing to be so accelerated before. It simply isn't possible," Julia muttered under her breath. The way she was staring at her made Rose uneasy. It was like she was an equation that couldn't be solved. No, it was more like she was an equation that shouldn't _exist_ to begin with.

"Anyway," Rose said in a bright voice, trying to lighten the mood. "So, you're telling me that I'm a freak. That your only diagnosis is it, doc?"

Dr. Atkinson cleared her throat, obviously trying to bring herself back down to reality. "Often, when we are under mental strain, that pressure can also take it's toll on us physically. If this was any other patient I would say the apparent lack of symptoms would indicate a psychological issue as opposed to a medical one. Your mother tells me you've been working a lot, is it possible that you're a little bit run down? Perhaps your sleeping problem is due to stress. I can prescribe you something to boost your energy levels. That might help you to stay awake."

There was an awkward silence before Dr. Atkinson said in a suggestive tone "_Or_..."

Rose suddenly became very uncomfortable. This could not be happening. She got the distinct impression the doctor would just _love_ to conduct an experiment on her.

Sure enough Atkinson didn't disappoint her. "Miss Tyler, how would you feel about-"

"Don't even think about it," Rose said a little bit too loudly. "You're not _hacking_ me up so you can stop looking at me like that for starters! You'd swear I was bloody diseased or somethin'..."

"It wouldn't be anything invasive," the doctor promised. "We could put you under a general anesthetic. You needn't even be awake for the procedure."

"I said _no_," Rose told her firmly. "I'm not an animal and I'm not bleedin' contaminated..."

Rose was unable to finish the thought, her mind completely wrapped up by a single word.

_You'll know when it's ready. You should be classed as a contaminate and this reality will start to force you out, via the breach. I can't say more, there's no time. I wish I could. I'm sorry._

So there it was, the reason. She was contaminated. That could only mean one thing.

It was finally time.

Rose barely took the time to register Dr. Atkinson's perplexed expression before she sprinted from the room.

**oOoOoOoOo**

**Thanks for everyone who is sticking with it. Love you all!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of it's characters.**

**oOoOoOo**

You might think that, after almost four years in a parallel world, Rose Tyler would have forgotten how to run. You would be wrong. The wind whipped past her face and despite the urgency of the situation, she was ecstatic as she tore down the street. Oh, how she had _missed_ this!

Rose didn't know how much time she had left but she would hazard a guess that it wasn't much. She had to get to her family, had to tell them it was time.

After all this time, the Universes had finally seen fit to reunite them. The stuff of legends reunited, as it should be. She could hardly contain her excitement as the prospect.

Her feet propelled her forward as she passed through the crowded streets. As she rounded a corner, her thoughts returned once more to her family. Would her they be happy for her? She certainly hoped so. They had all found their own place in this Universe, after all. Even Mickey had been blessed with a second chance, he had his old nan back. Surely it was only fair that Rose get her share of happiness and forever, too?

Would any of them willingly let her go? Well, that was another matter entirely.

It was only when she reached the entrance to the Tyler's grand stately home that Rose finally felt the need to pause and catch her breath. She was leaning up against a pillar for a moments rest when she felt the familiar sensation pass over her, more intense than ever before.

The feeling coursed through her veins before separating and pulling in an outward direction. Rose felt as if everything she was, her very being, her very _soul_, was being stretched from her body.

However, she knew that it was really being pulled from this _world_.

Since there was no physical pain to speak of, Rose couldn't see it as an unpleasant experience. In a way her mind was already floating above it. Safe from harm, she was watching from up high. She was outside of her body yet still completely _aware_ as to what was happening. It was truly bizarre.

This was it, she was so close now.

Rose had been close before though, back in Van Statten's museum, back in Canary Wharf. She would not let go too early ever again, she vowed. One split second was all it took. She had to see her family, had to say goodbye before she let this feeling fully take her over.

She attempted to get her mind and body to connect once more, forcing her legs to move again, her desperation spurring her onward.

Bursting through the door, she found herself in the Tyler's kitchen although she didn't quite remember how exactly she had made it there.

Pete was deep in conversation with Mickey while Jackie was attempting to persuade Tony to eat something that looked suspiciously like boiled spinach. All eyes turned to the doorway at the sound of her disruptive entrance.

"Rose, what's the matter darlin'?" Jackie asked in alarm, her face white with the shock at the sight of her only daughter in such a state.

Rose let out a sigh of relief. She had done it. There was still time. She could say goodbye.

"Hello," she greeted them, a warm smile spreading across her face as she prepared to tell them everything when, all of a sudden, something went very badly wrong. The separation became physical and Rose found that she could _feel _everything.

The pain became unbearable as the voice of the Beast rang through her ears.

_You shall die and I shall live._

There was a blinding flash of bright, golden light, a scream and an incredible, excruciating pulling sensation.

When the Tyler family looked up, Rose was nowhere to be seen.

**oooooo**

The first thing Rose became aware of was the cold, hard concrete underneath where she now lay.

The second was the sound of screams as shots pierced through the clear night sky.

The third was the blue lights of an ambulance, rushing past her before coming to a halt just around the corner.

**oOoOoOo**

**Firstly, can I just say how amazing you all are? I honestly thought nobody was enjoying the story and that I should just call it quits. Thank you all so much for your belief in me.**

**This chapter is just a quick one. There is a longer one being updated tomorrow, just need to proof-read it first. Have I ever mentioned how much not having a beta sucks?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Doctor Who is not mine.**

**oOoOoOo**

Rose Tyler was running, her heavy boots pounding against the ground. Her legs carried her faster than they ever had before yet she felt as if the road was pulling away from under her, like she was hardly moving at all. As she approached the scene, UNIT personnel were beginning to disperse. A few stray civilians were milling about, eager to find out what was going on. It wasn't what she had seen that unnerved her, rather what she _hadn't_ seen.

There was no sign of the Doctor.

By the time she reached the cordoned off area, the ambulance that had alerted her was already starting to drive away at speed. Rose had the strangest feeling she should be following it. It was almost as if something was pulling her towards it.

"What happened? What did they find?" Rose asked, coming to a halt and blindly reaching out for the closest person to her. She was desperate for any sort of information, rumour or no. Fear was now settled deep in the pit of her stomach. "Sorry, did they find someone?"

"I don't know," a woman informed her. "A bloke called the Doctor or something."

"Well, where is he?" Rose said, wheeling around again. Her gaze landed on the spot the ambulance had just vacated. Had UNIT taken him back to their base for questioning? She could easily find that out.

Her eyes surveyed the scene intensely. Had she overlooked him? If he hadn't been dressed in his familiar pinstriped suit, she could simply have missed him. It was true that he did occasionally favour a tux. Rose doubted that she hadn't recognised him. It couldn't be that, she would know him anywhere, no matter what.

The dread filled her as a third possibility entered into the equation. How long had it been since he had last seen her? Not that the Doctor obeyed linear time. Once or twice he had even referred to it as a 'ball of timey-whimey stuff.' It occurred to Rose that she didn't even know _when_ it time she was. What was the equivalent to her parallel world's present-day? Could she also have travelled in _time_? Rose could hardly allow herself to hope. Even if it _was_ close to the date they had lost each other, it didn't necessarily mean that time had progressed in such a way.

Regardless, the answer didn't really matter, it would still be long enough for something to have happened to him. Something bad. What if he had nobody to hold his hand, to help him accomplish the impossible, to tell him when enough was enough? What if he had needed help and regenerated again, all on his own? He had nearly died last time, could he handle regeneration sickness a second time?

Would she still know him if he had changed? Rose tried to convince herself that the bond they shared was based on more than a physical appearance, it ran deeper than that. Their connection was far, far more significant. Yes, she would know him, of course she would. Her feelings for him hadn't changed but what if _he_ had? But would he still want her?

"They took him away," the woman explained with a small inclination of her head, interrupting Rose's destructive thought pattern. "He's dead."

Rose felt the world beneath her give way and begin to crumble. Her blood ran cold and she found her arms were suddenly extremely heavy, even though she held nothing in them. She stared into the stranger's eyes for a long moment, willing her words to mean anything other than what she had actually said.

The woman remained silent.

Suffering from a sudden case of claustrophobia, Rose took a few unsteady paces forward, needing a moment out of the immediate area. Her head was reeling from this revelation and her thoughts were lacking in any sense. A feeling of numbness accompanied every step she took, spreading until Rose wasn't sure she could feel anything at all any more.

The Doctor was gone? This couldn't be true, there was just no way that was possible. She must have heard wrong, this woman must have the wrong information, anything except that. The Doctor wouldn't end like this. She had seen him him do the most incredible, impossible things without so much as breaking a sweat. He was a genius, no he was fantastic. What's more, he was a Time Lord, they didn't simply _die_.. Did they?

He couldn't have died alone. If he died on his own, Rose had failed both herself and him.

"I'm sorry, did you know him?" the stranger asked in a soft voice.

Rose was struck by the question. Did she know him? She struggled to align her thoughts in order to define what exactly the Doctor _was_ to her. He was her best friend. No, because he meant more to her than that. He was the love of her life, her protector, her saviour. He was the oncoming storm, the stuff of legend. He was the impossible, _brilliant_ man who had shown her the true meaning of life, of death, of love. He had complete control over her heart and emotions and yet, somehow, this made her stronger. He had made her better in every way.

"I mean, they didn't say his name," the woman offered kindly "It could be any doctor."

Rose felt the sick urge to laugh at the notion. As if he could ever be compared to another. The man was the very last of his race and even if he wasn't, Rose had no doubt that he'd still be completely unique. If there was anyone like him she wouldn't have had to cross entire dimensions just to find him.

Rose opened her mouth to explain to the woman that she was in love with an impossible alien from another planet. A man with two hearts who travelled throughout time and space in a magical machine. Someone who was over nine hundred years old that could change his face when he was about to die. An alien who had saved the human race and hundreds of others races countless times without even pausing for the feat to be acknowledged.

Yes, Rose could tell this woman unbelievable stories about the Doctor but even the most spectacular things paled in comparison to the reality of him and Rose found herself at a loss of what to say.

"I came so far," was all she could whisper.

"I-It could be anyone," the woman continued to stammer behind her. Rose felt a gentle hand on her arm. She was touched by this stranger who was still trying so hard to reassure her.

Rose turned around, trying to push the unfathomable grief from her mind so that she could thank this woman for her sweetness. She looked at the woman. Rose took note of her pale complexion, her vibrant red hair.

It was only then that her brain started functioning again. It finally processed the image and she realized she was seeing this woman for a _second_ time. She'd encountered her weeks before while on a jump. Rose had met her on Earth.

This confirms it, Rose thought to herself. She had done it, this was definitely Earth. She was home. And that meant the Doctor had been here. That he was most definitely dead.

Yet here was this same woman, standing in front of her, for the second time.

"What's your name?" she asked the red-headed woman curiously.

"Donna," the woman replied, still trying to ease Rose's pain. "And you?"

What was she supposed to say to that? If this was present-day Earth, that meant her name had long been associated with the Doctor's. If Rose Tyler had been declared dead in this Universe, she couldn't use that name. The wrong words here could bring a world of trouble in their wake. She amended the thought upon realizing she was now completely alone, it could bring a lot of trouble in _her_ wake.

"Oh, I was just passing by. I shouldn't even be here. This is wrong," Rose tried to explain flippantly but something caught her eye, a flash of movement that came from directly behind Donna.

There was something on her back.

"This is wrong. This is so wrong," Rose repeated, craning her neck to get a better look at whatever the object was. Just at that moment she caught sight of a metallic pincer and realized it wasn't an object, it was a _creature_. And wrong it was.

Rose knew she had to keep this woman talking until she could get a proper look at the thing. "Sorry, what was it-Donna what?"

Donna was having none of it. Her eyes narrowed as she looked suspiciously at Rose. "Why do you keep looking at my back?"

"I'm not," Rose muttered guiltily, shifting her own eyes nervously from Donna's back. She hadn't realized she was being so obvious. Was Rose losing her touch or was this woman just incredibly sharp? In her current state, unable to clear the thick fog-like weight from her mind, it probably wasn't a good idea to get drawn into this particular conversation with Donna. She would only end up letting something slip.

"Yes, you are," Donna insisted. "You keep looking behind me. You're doing it now. What is it, what's there?" Donna twisted in an attempt to see whatever Rose had been staring at. "Did someone put something on my back?"

And while Donna's back was turned Rose took the opportunity to disappear. She swiftly slipped the perception filter onto her finger and stepped back into the shadows. She crouched behind a nearby car and held her breath. Hopefully this time the filter would work on Donna.

Sure enough, by some miracle, when Donna turned back around, Rose was essentially gone.

Whatever Donna had been about to say died in her throat. She took one more confused look around her and slowly turned back the way Rose had come.

Rose emerged from her hiding spot and watched as Donna walked back down the street. She was disappointed to find that she couldn't identify the creature that now sat squarely on her back. A creature that Donna had no idea existed.

She shuddered in fear for the mysterious red-headed woman. Whatever that thing was, Rose had no doubt that it was dangerous. She needed the Doctor. He'd know exactly what to do.

The life drained out of her at the thought of him. She sank to the curb, burying her face in her hands. What was she supposed to do now? She had come all this way after all these years. Everything she had done to get here, she had sacrificed so much and for what? The Doctor was dead, her family were entire dimensions away with no idea where she currently was and the unstoppable Darkness was coming across the galaxies to destroy everything.

Rose raised her head. She gazed up at the still-existent stars, willing the Universe to give her the strength to persevere. There was so much work to be done but she couldn't even motivate herself to get up from the pavement.

That's when she caught a glimpse of it, the quickest flash of blue and steel that had offered her hope so many times in the past, lying in the middle of the road.

The beacon of hope that was the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

**oOoOoOoOo**

****Allowing all the timelines to run simultaneously has given me some serious headaches.****

**Just to clarify: the Doctor first met Donna directly after saying goodbye to Rose. So that means that the Doctor in this chapter died under the Thames soon after losing her, even though it had been years in Rose's Universe!**

**What do you all think? I am reading every review so please let me know your thoughts, good or bad! Is this incomprehensible nonsense or have I succeeded in simplifying it? **

**I really enjoyed writing this one!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. This is solely an outlet for my over-active imagination.**

**oOoOoOo**

If there was one thing Rose knew she ought to be curious about, it was a locked door. Having snuck into UNIT's base in search of answers earlier that evening, she found herself in front of such a door now. She knew she could always continue her search, try and find something that _didn't_ require breaking and entering but the temptation was taunting her and she couldn't resist. UNIT was a high security facility after all. If there was something hidden within its' confines, it was something worth knowing about.

Peering round, she was somewhat disappointed to find the corridor was vacant. If whatever was in this room was so poorly guarded, perhaps it wasn't worth investigating after all. But the curiosity was burning and a voice in her head kept pushing her towards it.

_Not gonna open it. I'm not going to open it,_ she chanted to herself, although she had learned long ago that this particular mantra did not work.

Rose sighed, the urge to look was just too strong. Besides, she didn't like half measures. She had already _entered_ the building so technically the breaking was all that was left to do. Convincing herself that it would be bad luck _not_ to follow through, she removed the perception filter and withdrew the sonic screwdriver. Trying to remain discreet, she pointed the sonic at the keypad beside the door, hoping that she wasn't about to resonate concrete in the walls instead.

Thankfully, there was a small hissing sound, followed by a wisp of smoke. Seconds later the keypad sparked and the door clicked open. She stood back to inspect her work, shaking her head, the Doctor had never been this destructive when opening doors.

Rose let herself into the room only to discover it was bathed in darkness. She ran her hand along the wall in search of the light-switch. Failing to locate it, she pulled the sonic out again, trying to recall which setting turned on the lights. _59D_ sounded about right.

Rose was just trying setting _35B_ when she heard the footsteps approaching. Ceasing the sonic's whirring, she crept forward and listened instead.

"I don't know why I'm even helping you," a hushed voice came from outside the door. "This goes against everything I've been trained for. Not to mention it breaks every rule. If I'm caught-"

"I just want to see it," the second man insisted in a low persuasive tone before continuing, "The risk of getting caught, that's what makes life so exciting, don't you think?"

When the other man didn't respond, he sighed impatiently. "Oh, come on Ross, live a little bit, eh?"

"Someone's been in here," Ross announced in a dark voice. Rose had a bad feeling her earlier handiwork had just been discovered.

"You're in the wrong line of work, detective. What gave it away, surely not the vandalism?" the second man asked with a barking laugh.

Ross, however, did not appear to appreciate the humour. Rose knew it was only a matter of time before he decided to search the room for an intruder.

Sure enough, the door swung open to reveal the outline of both men, their forms lit only by the light that came from the corridor.

Rose stepped away slowly, silently praying that the men wouldn't actually enter the room to investigate the disturbance. She fumbled in her pocket for the perception filter but was surprised to find she had backed into something solid. She jumped at the unexpected contact, causing the filter to slip through her fingers and land on the ground with an audible clattering sound.

The noise must have alerted the men because both silhouettes straightened at once.

"Who's in here?" came the authoritative voice from the doorway. "This area is restricted. Show yourself at once."

_Great. Now I'm literally up against a wall,_ Rose thought wryly.

She quickly considered her options and found there were very few. Her neck and chest flushed with heat, even though she wasn't all that embarrassed to have been caught here.

She could bluff it by pretending to be a specialist or something. She had fallen back on this alibi countless times in the past and she had more than enough jargon in her arsenal to back it up. Although, considering she was alone in the dark, without any psychic paper or the faintest clue why she was even _in_ this room, she probably wouldn't be all that convincing. All she could claim to be was a specialist of darkness, Rose thought coyly, grinning at the irony.

She could lie. Claim that she got lost, that she had no idea where she was. She could pretend that she had stumbled into this room, whilst in search of the toilet. The blatant evidence of her tampering outside was pretty damning, however.

Or, she could tell the truth. Admit who she was and why she was here. Hope that these people co-operated with her. The Doctor had mentioned that he had worked with UNIT before. Now he was dead. It was entirely possible that they would help her out of reverence to him. After all, he had saved this planet numerous times.

The man must have mistaken her delayed reaction for a hostile threat. Rose saw his form begin to draw a weapon from his holster.

"Hold on, Ross. Give the poor lad a chance before you decide to go shooting him," the taller man said. He had quite a distinct accent, Rose noted.

"It's Greyhound 40," Ross corrected him but he did lower his weapon before addressing Rose again. "Who are you, sir?"

Rose decided that honesty was the best policy in this instance. This was as good a chance as any. After all, this was probably the only way she would get any answers. She stood a little taller.

"I'm _Miss_ Rose Tyler," she admitted. "As in female. Recent companion to the Doctor, defender of the Earth and eater of chips. And you gentlemen are?"

There was no reaction from either man.

_Charming_, she thought.

The sensation of heat was getting rather uncomfortable now. She placed a hand on her chest and identified the TARDIS key as the source of the problem. The metal must have been reacting to her body temperature, acting as a conductor and raising the heat of it.

"Nice try," came the quiet response from the second man, accusation colouring his words. "But I think you'll find that Rose Tyler is dead."

"Well damn, I guess I missed that memo. And here was me thinking I was just missing," she joked. This is what she got for telling the truth then, the same reaction she always got; Lies, accusations, threats and questions. It was a wonder she didn't do it more often when it was just so _pleasant_.

The taller of the two men crossed the room and came to a halt beside Rose. His face was almost completely cloaked in darkness, save the white flash of his eyes. Rose got the impression he was scrutinizing her. There was something extremely familiar about his presence that she just couldn't put her finger on.

"Ross, switch on the lights," the man ordered.

Of all the men in the Universe Rose had expected to see when the lights flickered on, Captain Jack Harkness was not one of them. Yet here she stood, face to face with a man who she had long assumed was dead.

"Rose?" he asked in a shaky voice. By the look of it, he wasn't remotely prepared for this meeting either.

"Hello," she said, trying to sound confident. She might have succeeded too, had her voice not cracked and betrayed her.

"But...You're dead," Jack pressed.

"Since when does missing equals dead?" Rose asked with a frustrated sigh. "Anyway, you can talk! The Doctor told me you were alive but when he refused to go back for you, spinning some line about you rebuilding the Earth, I thought he was just lying to make me feel better."

Rose frowned, the events of that day replaying in her mind. At least the ones she could remember. This just didn't add up.

"Jack, don't get me wrong, I'm _so_ happy to see you, especially now. I just don't understand. You were facing the Daleks before I ever came back with the TARDIS. You were literally the last line of defense and, seeing as they were already in the room with the Doctor by the time I arrived, I assume they slaughtered everyone else on the Game Station. How is it even _possible_ that you survived?"

Jack's eyes darkened, some unidentifiable emotion burning behind them. He looked a lot older than when she had seen him last, Rose noticed, although he didn't appear to have aged a single day. Yet there was something ancient hidden in his eyes, something in the set of his mouth, like he was old beyond his years. It reminded her of the Doctor but he, at least, had almost a thousand years of memories to account for his hurt while Jack...Jack was the most easy going person she had ever known. What could possibly have caused him such pain?

Jack shrugged. "It's a long story, kid. I'll fill you in later, I don't know how much of it you know already. Heck, I don't know the whole story myself! I'm just an impossible thing, Rose."

"It's a good thing I stopped believing in impossible a long time ago," Rose said, nudging him with her elbow.

He looked at her for a long moment before breaking into a massive grin and pulling her in for a hug.

"God, it's good to see you!" Almost immediately, he pulled away from her. "Gosh, Tyler. Everything all right? You're burning up."

Jack was right, the intensity of the heat was too much now. Something was beginning to burn straight into her flesh. Reaching underneath her shirt, she pulled the TARDIS key out. She was only able to hold it for the briefest of seconds before she was forced to drop it.

Rose knew she had previously dismissed the word but this truly was impossible. That key had remained cold for almost four years, ever since she had been sucked into the parallel world, but it was most certainly scorching now.

Why on Earth would it react now? Was it the close proximity to Jack? It had never reacted to him before.

She met Jack's wide eyes, both of them trying to make sense of it.

Ross pointed a shaking finger at the floor. "What exactly is that key for? And why is it glowing?"

_Glowing_? Rose looked down. The key was indeed glowing, a pulsing golden light emanated from it. A light that _almost_ looked like regeneration energy.

Jack crouched down and wrapped the end of his trench coat around the key. Frowning, he also picked up a tarnished ring and stowed it in his pocket.

"Jack, this has gone too far," Ross said, becoming Greyhound 40 again. "I have no idea who this woman is, or what she means to you. She claims she traveled with the Doctor. We will need to detain her until we can determine whether she's telling the truth or not. For all we know, she could be involved in his death."

"Oh, fantastic. Nothing like a night in the cells to revive the senses!" Rose muttered. Although she was hurt by the accusation, she also felt quite sorry for the man, he was obviously frightened.

Jack laughed but managed to disguise it as a cough. He spared a moment to wink at Rose.

"I couldn't agree more, Greyhound 40. This woman is clearly a menace. Detained, you say? Darn, would you believe it's the _one time_ I don't have my handcuffs handy? Still, it's probably for the best. That there looks pretty secure," Jack said, nodding towards something behind them.

Rose whirled around and was greeted by the most impressive, beautiful sight she had seen in years.

Towering above her read the words _Police Public Call Box. _

As Rose took in the ships' entirety, tears welled in her eyes. She lightly pressed her forehead against the warm grain of the blue wood and was flooded with an overwhelming sense of homecoming.

"Oh boys," she said, the brightest of smiles breaking across her face. "You really shouldn't have." She flashed Ross a cheeky grin before she and Jack slipped into the TARDIS.

**oOoOoOoOo**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Doctor Who.**

**oOoOoOo**

Rose and Jack stumbled into the TARDIS before collapsing against the reverse of the door. Rose was pleased to discover that her fit of laughter was genuine, it had been a while since she had felt at ease enough to laugh.

The sight that greeted them effectively put a halt to that joy, however. Something was terribly wrong.

The majestic TARDIS looked eerily drained. Instead of it's usual proud coral and golden glow, the ship was now under a cloak of darkness. All of its lights seemed to be dead. There were no soft noises in the background, no presence in her mind, no translating, no telepathy. The filtration system must have failed, leaving the air cold and heavy. There didn't appear to be any life on-board whatsoever.

Rose sobered, immediately running towards the console.

"What's wrong?" she asked the ship affectionately, placing a gentle hand on an organic coral strut.

The TARDIS used all of it's energy to thrum faintly underneath her palm. The motion sent chills down Rose's spine.

"What do you think is wrong with it?" Jack wondered, aware that he was voicing aloud Rose's own concerns.

It struck Rose that Jack considered the TARDIS gender neutral, as she herself did. She used to refer to the ship as female, a habit picked up from the Doctor, he had so often referred to the ancient ship that way.

Ever since the Game Station though, things had changed between Rose and the TARDIS. Their dynamic had remained the same but it was almost as if she was more connected to the sentient ship afterwards. Identifying it as solely female just hadn't felt right. She had even tried using his endearment of o_ld girl_ but it had never come naturally to her. The ship was something more, which made sense. It may have grown but it still originated from Gallifrey, essentially making it Time Lord technology. Just like the Time Lords themselves, it was interchangeable.

She absent-mindedly stroked the console, remembering when she used to mock him for doing the same thing. Now she understood. Nothing felt more real, or more important than this. The ship was the only thing tethering her to the Earth. The TARDIS was everything and yet, somehow, right now it was nothing.

Rose had always viewed the ship as her home, the only constant at the centre of the Universes. But now...It was as if the TARDIS had shut down. The ship was alive but without his connection, it had no reason to continue. It was dying.

Rose was racked with regret. If only she had come straight to UNIT after talking to Donna that night, she might have been in time to prevent this. Instead she had let his loss get the better of her and hauled herself up in a B&B for near on two weeks. Jackie needn't have feared for her daughter's humanity. After everything she had seen, Rose Tyler had dealt with grief in the most human way.

"I think it's dying," Rose answered morosely, answering Jack's earlier question. She couldn't help remembering the Doctor's reaction when the ship had died in Pete's world, his heartbroken expression when they had lost it on that impossible planet below a black hole. The TARDIS was all he had, literally the only thing, he had said. Rose was almost relieved he couldn't see the state it was in now. Almost.

"Well, why are we standing here? Let's get to work, just like old times!" Jack went about pulling the gauze up from the floor.

Rose stood motionless. What was the point? Even if they managed to save the ship now, they couldn't bring back the Doctor. Everything had it's time and everything ends. The TARDIS, glorious as it was, was no exception. It didn't seem to be putting up a fight. Perhaps they should leave it to die in peace.

"Don't Jack. He wouldn't want that."

Jack stopped his tinkering. "Give up? That's not like you, Rosie. Who died and made you such a party pooper?"

His eyes widened instantly as the realization of what he had just said sank in. It was rare to see Jack flustered, yet here he was awkwardly trying to apologise. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I mean obviously I know _what's_ wrong and who is dead-"

"It's okay Jack. Don't worry about it really. Life goes on and all that," she told him numbly, putting him out of his agony.

"That's exactly my point, though," Jack said. "Life goes on but I've never seen you like this. It's like you've given up. What happened to the girl who stared into the _time vortex_ _itself_ just so she could be reunited with the man she loved? Speaking of life going on, you're supposed to be as good as dead, locked away in some parallel Earth. Care to explain how you came to be in this Universe?"

Rose didn't answer. How could she even begin to describe it? She couldn't tell that tale, not right now.

"That's _my_ point Jack. I looked into the heart of the TARDIS to _save_ him, to get _back_ to him. There is no one to be reunited with now. He's dead, the Doctor is dead. He doesn't have that chance of survival any more, he's already gone. He died, all by himself. I already let him down, the least I can do now is respect his wishes."

"Which were? Rose, we weren't there at the end. We can't speak to what he would have wanted if he died."

"Actually, I can," Rose told him.

"You talked about him dying?" Jack supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Underneath all their light-hearted antics lay quite the serious relationship. Those two had been a couple, even if they hadn't admitted it to each other, or even to themselves.

"It was here, before I went back to Satellite 5," Rose told him honestly. "It wasn't a conversation as such. It was a recording, like an automatic protocol on what to do in the event of his death." Rose sighed, trying to dismiss the painful memories that burned in the front of her mind. She had more than enough experience dealing with the Doctor in holographic form than she would care to admit.

"Rose," Jack pressed. "What did he say?" He wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"He wanted me to abandon the TARDIS, let it gather dust, become some old relic that nobody could access. A forgotten blue box on a street corner somewhere."

"And?" Rose closed her eyes tightly. Jack seemed determined to hear this, even though it was blatantly hurting her to recall it.

"He told me to have a fantastic life," Rose choked out. "He was dying and all he wanted was for _my_ life to go on without him. That s_tupid_ man!" She resisted the urge to kick the TARDIS console in anger. A display of rash behaviour such as that wouldn't help anyone. At least that's what she was trying to convince herself.

Jack went to console her but Rose was busy looking at something on the grating behind him.

"He has a hand in a jar. Of course he does," Rose laughed, pointing it out to Jack. She wasn't sure she even wanted to know. She had seen so many disgusting things on board this ship that she regretted ever questioning. Knowing him, at some stage, he had probably licked that hand.

"That's mine!" Jack exclaimed, sounding a little put out.

"_Yours_?" Rose clarified, gaping. She looked down pointedly. Jack definitely still had both his hands.

"Yeah, mine. Well, technically it's his but finders keepers and all that. We have _so_ much catching up do." Jack grinned.

The TARDIS groaned slightly and Rose felt a presence she hadn't experienced in years. The TARDIS was in her mind. The light telepathy urged her towards the monitor. Rose's forehead creased at the sudden, invasive contact but she obliged nonetheless.

The monitor screen flickered to life. Soon images were flashing before her eyes, information filling her mind. Donna appearing on the TARDIS. Donna Noble underneath the Thames, shouting to the Oncoming Storm, telling him it was time to stop. Donna Noble's brave face as, together, they pressed a handle down, surrounded by lava and destruction. The Doctor and Donna's converging timelines. Single heartbeats. Donna Noble, touching the jar that Jack currently held. A second Doctor in a blue suit. Donna Noble pushing buttons. The screams of the Daleks. Donna Noble saving twenty seven planets. Donna Noble begging the Doctor not to wipe her mind. The Doctor apologizing over and over to her unconscious form limp in his arms.

The screen flashed one final time and Rose was surprised to find herself on-screen. It took her a moment to recognise floor 500 of the Game Station. It was surreal to watch herself engulfed in golden rays. All she had heard at the time was singing. Yet, somehow, this was all familiar to her now.

_I can see everything...All that is. All that was. All that ever could be_. Rose heard herself say in a haunting, yet beautiful voice.

"Is this the all that ever could be part?" Jack asked dryly, although he too was in awe of what he was seeing.

Rose couldn't answer. Something was missing here, something big. The TARDIS was trying to tell her something.

And then it all clicked together.

"It's not the future," Rose started, turning the words over on her tongue. "What if it's all that ever _was_?"

Jack simply blinked. "Come again?" he asked.

"What if it's _not_ the all that ever is or ever could be? What if it's the all that ever _was_?" Rose emphasized, hoping Jack would understand.

"Woah, girl. Slow down there. This isn't making any sense," Jack tried to tell her but it was too late. Rose had a hunch and, Sarge or no Sarge, she was going to follow it up.

"No, Jack," she insisted. "But what if _this_, all of this, everything underneath your feet, the sky, the birds, the trees, what if they're something else? What if _this_ isn't real?"

"What are you saying?"

"What if this isn't reality as we know it? What if this _isn't_ my Universe, or even another parallel world. What if this has been created around _Donna_, and I only ended up here by chance? I have seen the TARDIS die before, of course I have, in Pete's world. It wouldn't just die, it's stronger than that! It's the Universe _around_ us that's wrong!"

"And what about me? How did I get here?" Jack could hardly bring himself to ask. He didn't like the direction of Rose's thoughts.

"You're real," Jack looked relieved at this news before Rose finished her sentence "But you're only real in _this_ Universe. You _are_ Captain Jack Harkness but you're not the Jack I'm looking for. God only knows what effect your existence is having on him in reality. I have to get back. If I get back earlier, maybe I can stop the Doctor from ever coming here!"

"Rose, this is absurd. You just told me, I'm real," Jack informed her but it was no use. Rose Tyler was no longer listening. Now that she had voiced the theory out loud, she knew it had to be true.

"I've got to stop it," she was muttering. "Get out of this Universe and back to the Doctor, he might still be alive there! And Donna, she's the key. If this is all happening in her head, we just have to wake her up."

Rose shuddered as she remembered Donna pleading with the Doctor. She had wanted so badly to stay with him, to spend her human life on-board the TARDIS. Rose had to make that happen. "We can't let Donna Noble's mind get wiped. I have to save her."

"Rose!" Jack yelled. She paused her frantic planning and turned to him. The betrayal was written all over his face.

"Tell me. What happens to me if this plan of yours works?"

Rose realized what he was asking, the price she was paying. He would have to be sacrificed. "I don't know for certain. Worse case scenario, I'd imagine reality as you know it gets ripped apart," she admitted in a small voice.

"You're basing my entire existence on a hunch!" he snarled.

"No, Jack, because it's not just a hunch. You won't die, not really. You'll be alive in the proper Universe, maybe this one will still exist too. I promise you this isn't just a hunch, it's something else, something more. It's not hope, it's not even love."

"So what is it then? What's worth _killing_ me for?"

Rose stared at him. Jack Harkness had been willing to fight off a fully-fledged army of Daleks single-handedly but _this_ man was terrified. He had every right to be but it just further confirmed Rose's theory: This man was not the real Captain Jack.

"I guess you could call it faith, Jack but really it's belief. Because if there's one thing I believe in, across every single Universe, it's him."

**oOoOoOo**

**I'm sorry that it's taking me a while between updates. I know it's hard to believe seeing as the final edits are so basic but it really is a nightmare to get these chapters to add up exactly to what happened in the show. For every sentence that gets penned here, five alternates have been rejected.**

**Feedback is always welcome.**

**Until next time xx**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Doctor Who!**

**oOoOoOo**

Something had become increasingly apparent to Rose over the past few weeks; Donna Noble was special. The more time Rose spent with the woman, the clearer this became. In fact, Donna Noble was so special that Rose had met her twice across the Universes. _Twice_. Rose didn't have to be an expert to know that in time travel, those odds were almost incalculable. Donna gave off individual readings like none she'd ever seen during her time at Torchwood. Donna Noble was so important that timelines converged on her. Timelines were unfathomably fragile things, yet reality was bending around her with ease, effortlessly changing complicated fixed points in time as it did so.

Donna Noble was so unique that she had to die to save the world, to save every world.

Lodestone started powering up, siphoning off the excess energy from the TARDIS. As the machine loaded, the chronon energy steadily glowed more intensely as the technology gained the stolen power.

"'Cause I understand now," Donna said, an oddly content expression on her face. "You said I was going to die but you mean this whole world is gonna to blink out of existence. But that's not dying, because a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world and I'm still alive. That's right, isn't it? I don't die. If I change things, I don't die. That's.. That's right, isn't it?"

Looking into her terrified eyes now, Rose wondered what she could possibly say to ease her fears. The truth was that she didn't know if this would work, not really. She could tell her about the DoctorDonna, but would she be sealing Donna's future or preventing it? With what the TARDIS had shown her, that life had been everything to Donna. The way Rose had seen her pleading with him at the end, she had no doubt that for Donna, forgetting was a fate worse than death. With every passing day, Rose knew that feeling all too well.

Rose knew that the situation didn't call for Donna to panic, she needed to remain calm yet it didn't seem fair to lie to the woman and pretend that her plan was foolproof when it was far from it. Rose thought about all the people she had once known, who had died in this world following her advice. Convinced that he was going to die anyway, this universe's Captain Jack Harkness had stayed aboard the Sontaran ship to detonate the device. There had been no survivors. Sarah Jane Smith had died, suffocating in the Royal Hope hospital. She had only been there investigating a tip Rose had passed on. Thousands more had died screaming in the same manner as Ross, known to UNIT only as Greyhound 40, choking on the gas emitted from the ATMOS devices.

The Doctor could have saved them all.

_"None of this was meant to happen. There was this man, this wonderful man and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happening."_

How many had already perished? Tens of thousands? Hundreds? Was Donna Noble about to be added to that growing list? Real or not, parallel or no, these events were happening right now. This might not be her world but these people were still living, and they were dying. How many more would die before Rose could be reunited with him?

_"We need the Doctor more than ever. I've been pulled across from a different universe because every single universe is in danger. It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it."_

_"What is?"_

_"The Darkness."_

One woman was about to try and change all of that. One human woman was attempting to change time itself, to rewrite history.

The worst part of it all was that Donna didn't even realize just how important she was. Rose had tried to convince her but it was no use. Donna couldn't see herself very clearly, despite having traveled with the Doctor in another world. He only took the best with him. Donna refused to believe that she had saved civilization many, many times. What's more, she had saved the Doctor from himself. In Rose's absence, Donna had made him happy, had made it easier for him. That was a feat in itself. Donna Noble had saved the man who saves everybody else.

_"Well, what do you keep telling me for? What am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special, I mean, I'm not...I'm a temp. I'm not even that. I'm nothing."_

_"Donna Noble you're the most important woman in the whole of creation."_

_"Oh, don't. Just don't. I'm tired. I'm so tired."_

Maybe it was her overwhelming sense of gratitude, rivaled only by her guilt. Maybe it was her new-found fondness for the feisty redhead. Maybe after four years, she was just exhausted. Whatever the reason, Rose Tyler found that she couldn't pretend any more. She may be working with UNIT but she didn't work _for_ them. Donna had the right to know the truth about her possible demise.

"I'm sorry," Rose answered her simply.

"But I can't _die_. I've got a future with the Doctor. You told me," Donna said accusingly, the panic seeping across her face.

Rose's heart plunged. It was true, she had basically told her that. In her attempt to avoid a rip in the fabric of reality, she had said both too little and too much. Donna was right, Rose was full of contradictions.

Lodestone reached full capacity then, blinding light bounced across the space, reflecting off the mirrors.

There was a sharp static-like noise and Donna Noble was gone before Rose could respond.

"Right, set it up again," Rose ordered the uniformed woman standing nearby. "One minute past. I've got to go after her",

"That is not part of the mission, Miss," Captain Erisa Mugumbo replied, still unsure on how to address Rose who flat out refused to identify herself.

"But she was scared, you saw her! What if she doesn't go through with it? You heard what she said about approaching herself. She can't do that. If her past self sees that version of herself, it'll cause a paradox large enough to tear reality in two! Believe me when I say that's not pretty."

"UNIT is not in the habit of messing around with technology on this level. Lodestone has just been activated, successfully. _That_ was the mission. Miss Noble was to go, alone. If you follow her, there's a chance you will blow this whole operation. We need to trust that she understands what needs to be done."

"I'm not trying to stop anything! I know what needs to happen but does she? She shouldn't die alone. I just want to help her. Don't you?"

Rose didn't bother waiting for Captain Mugumbo's verbal answer, her face said plenty. She was not budging and Rose didn't have the patience to try and persuade her. Donna was out there right now. It was time for action.

"Right. I'll have to stop her from turning left myself then, won't I?" Rose asked rhetorically, turning and briskly walking towards the TARDIS.

_"It's still trying to help."_

Inside she walked directly over to the console and placed her hand on it, just as she had done before. It was a long shot, she was well aware but she couldn't risk this all falling apart. Donna Noble was needed in another universe.

"Please. Help her." she begged. "Help me."

It must have taken a magnitude of power but the TARDIS began to wheeze and groan before the sound came to a stop seconds later.

Rose checked the monitor. She hadn't felt it but they had moved, appearing to have landed at the bottom of a housing estate. Rose didn't need to read the accompanying information to know that they were in the right place.

She took the chance to thank the ship before sprinting towards the door and flinging it open, stepping out onto the bright street.

The traffic was already slowing with Silvia Noble's car nowhere in sight. People were getting out of their vehicles. A pale, shaken man was retching beside a truck. A brunette woman was screaming in horror. The cause of the traffic jam wasn't hard to identify.

Donna Noble was lying lifelessly in the middle of the road, the dark, oversized coat billowing around her, a stark contrast to her flaming hair and pooling blood.

Rose approached her wordlessly and recognition flickered across Donna's features when she got closer.

Rose swallowed, not sure what to say. She had to believe that Donna would wake up in another world, in the Doctor's universe. If these were Donna's last moments, they should be filled with hope, not with the panic that accompanies the fear of death.

"Tell him this," Rose said, crouching down to whisper the unmistakable words in the dying woman's ear. "Two words. Bad Wolf."

The second woman didn't reply but a brief moment of understanding passed between them before Donna's breathing slowed and her eyes closed for what might be the very last time.

Rose felt the tears forming, apologies bursting from her lips too late for Donna to hear them.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she repeated, grasping the woman's hands.

"She just stepped right out onto the road. I couldn't stop, I couldn't-" the shaking man was saying to somebody behind her, his voice hitching uncontrollably.

Rose began to rise, releasing Donna's hand. The ambulance and authorities would soon be arriving and she should be gone by then to avoid suspicion.

She heard an unfamiliar beeping noise coming from the pocket of her leather jacket. Straightening herself, she reached in and retrieved the dimension hopper. It only took her a second to realize why it was beeping. This was the moment. It was ready.

Rose said a silent prayer, though she wasn't entirely sure to whom she was reaching out to before placing her two hands on the button and closing her eyes tightly on Donna Noble's form for what she hoped wouldn't be the final time.

**oOoOoOoOo**

**So, I owe you all an explanation for the lack of updates.**

**For a few months, this story was taking over my life. I was coming home every evening from work, excited at the thought of completing another chapter. It was providing the perfect outlet from other things in my life. Now, however, I'm finding it hard to stay motivated. It's just not bringing me that same joy any more.**

**I first started this story in the hope that people would enjoy a new take on the canon tale, but the lack of reviews and followers are suggesting otherwise. I know it's selfish but I'm averaging at about two reviews per chapter and, for all the work and time that goes into each individual chapter, it's not been worth it.**

**I know there are a few people who follow the story and are enthusiastic about my updates but I hope you understand that I can't keep writing every day solely for you. I'm sorry. I can only hope that you'll stay with me until I return with a clearer head.**

**I'll continue to write in my own free time and when I feel genuinely pleased at the prospect of finishing the story, then I'll be back.**

**I guess, in a way, I need to find my mojo again. I hope you can all understand!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

**oOoOoOo**

Rose walked down the centre of the road with her phone pressed closely to her ear. Her eyes intently scanned the empty street for any sign of life but it seemed that everyone had already been taken. All that greeted her was despair.

"Jack?" she said. "Talk to me. Are you absolutely sure that this is where you picked up the signal?"

"I'm positive," Jack's distant voice replied in a cool tone. "GPS coordinates here confirm it. You're close. He's nearby, Rose."

Rose sighed impatiently, spinning around as she did so. "Well, I don't see him anywhere!"

"Listen. Me, Ianto and Gwen are stuck in the base right now but I'm pretty sure I can teleport out of here, if I can just figure out the base code numbers. I'm about to call a friend and get the coordinates, hopefully it shouldn't take too long. In the meantime, don't panic. Keep looking for the Doctor, I'll be with you soon."

"He should be here, Jack. What if he's already gone? What if the GPS was wrong and I've missed him again?" Rose asked, attempting to keep her composure.

"I _would_ say that's impossible but considering it's the Doctor we're talking about and he's the _only_ one who could fool my machinery, I'll venture it's extremely unlikely instead."

"Unlikely...That's good because him and impossible don't exactly see eye to eye," Rose pointed out, laughing to disguise her underlying fear.

"Rose," Jack said hesitantly, forming his words carefully. "Gun or no gun, and no I don't care how big your gun might be, those streets aren't safe tonight. I don't want you to get hurt. Or worse, taken to the Crucible for whatever they're doing up there. Please, just wait there for me. Try to keep yourself hidden. Then we'll go find him together, I promise."

"Okay?" Jack pressed, doubting her silence.

Rose knew just how terrified of the Daleks Jack was. Usually she would protest vehemently and tell him she was more than capable of looking after herself, no matter what the threat. However, in this instance Jack was completely right. It was pointless to worry him when she could wait five minutes.

She nodded before remembering Jack was awaiting a more verbal response. "Yeah," she managed before hanging up the phone.

The shout of a man's fierce protest echoed through the night, coming from a mere couple of blocks away. Although the sound struck fear in her heart, Rose couldn't resist beaming with pride. The Daleks were forcing people from their homes, tearing families apart and the human race were _still_ fighting back, without any experience, a single weapon or any real plan. The odds were stacked against them yet here they were, fighting back, as usual.

Rose decided she would wait for Jack to arrive but she should at least get out of the open first. She continued walking, scuffing her heavy boots along the road in frustration, deep in thought.

Where was the Doctor? She had seen him on the Noble's webcam earlier, he was supposed to be on his way here, with Donna. According to this Universe's Torchwood, the TARDIS had already landed so where could they be?

Even though this particular street appeared to be deserted, Rose knew she couldn't be too careful. The Daleks could be anywhere and to encounter even one could prove to be deadly. It was best to keep moving. She sped up, anxiously glancing over her shoulder before rounding the next corner.

And that's when she saw him.

He was standing outside the TARDIS with Donna. Together the pair stared wordlessly out at the devastating sight, at the empty cars and the ransacked houses.

He was stressed, running his hand through his hair like he always did when he was trying to figure something important out. Probably something to do with all those the planets appearing in the sky, Rose mused. He rounded on Donna, seeming to ask her something, no doubt analysing her face intently for any helpful insights.

Had he always been so beautiful?

Donna started to respond before something caught her eye, or rather someone. She froze, locking eyes with Rose momentarily. From this distance Rose could still make out the small, knowing smile that now stained Donna's lips.

Even with everything that was going on around them, even with the threat both in the sky and on the streets that could wipe out everyone she held dear, Donna Noble was happy. Rose allowed herself a sigh of relief. That parallel world had crushed Donna's spirit in a way that Rose had never seen before. Rose hadn't been sure whether Donna would have been able to regain her strength after the ordeal but it would seem that she had. It was good to see her smiling.

Donna said something to the Doctor that Rose couldn't make out. The Doctor didn't respond so Donna pointedly nodded behind him, toward Rose.

Whirling around slowly, Rose recognised the look of sheer disbelief on his face.

She tried to move, to go to him, but she was glued to the spot. She tried to shout but couldn't seem to locate her voice. Rose tried to do anything at all but found that she couldn't. She simply stood there, paralysed by the images flowing through her mind, by the memories they had shared together.

She had spent the past four years of her life praying daily for this one single moment and now that it was here, it didn't feel quite real.

She dared not to breathe. She couldn't risk blinking for the fear that it would all be swiftly snatched away in a cruel moment. She stood there, rooted to the spot, too afraid to move, to do anything that might jeopardise their reunion.

What could you possibly do when the reality was better than anything you could dream up?

His warm eyes widened, shining brightly and emotions flooded across his expression.

There was no way she could dream this up, Rose thought. He really _was_ here in front of her.

She felt her lips twitch, quickly spreading into the biggest, brightest smile. All of a sudden there was nothing that could stop her from reaching him, from throwing her arms around him and burying her face deep in his neck.

Rose flung herself forward, desperately trying to reach him. She now resented the large gun that hung by her waist, slowing her down. The road stretched out like an eternity before her, the space between them closing at an unbearably slow rate.

Rose ran until there was only a matter of feet between them, closing the gap more and more with every step. She ran until her legs were weak and her chest was heaving.

She ran until she was near enough to inspect his breathtaking grin up close, until she could identify every freckle on his face.

She ran until she spotted the lone Dalek emerging from where it had been hiding in the shadows, until she heard its harrowing voice cry out _Exterminate!_

She ran until she heard it fire its weapon, until she saw the Doctor's face contort in a twisted mixture of both pain and confusion.

Rose Tyler kept on running until she saw the ground swirling up towards her and everything went black.

**oOooOoOo**

**Until the next chapter!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own DW. **

**oOoOoOo**

Rose drifted into conciousness, the intense pain abruptly snapping her awake. She appeared to be in somebody's arms...And this somebody appeared to be male. She grimaced in agony, attempting to look upwards. Everything was burning. An white-hot electricity tore through her body in an indescribable pain, searing everything it came into contact with.

"Not only do I have to do all of that," the Doctor was saying from the TARDIS console, "but I also need to make sure that I don't lose the Tandoca trail while I'm at it."

"Torchwood will keep the signal detectable from their end, don't worry. Just focus on saving Rose," Jack said.

Rose frowned, trying to keep her eyes open. When had Jack joined them? How long had she been unconscious for?

The Doctor began turning a dial with one hand, banging a button with a mallet with the other. Upon hearing a beeping sound and realising both hands were occupied, he raised his Converse-clad foot to press down a lever.

"Can't you do something alien?" Donna asked him, panicking. "I don't know.. CPR or something? Breathe life into her like they do in the movies?"

The banging sound paused momentarily, skipping a beat in it's otherwise rhythmic melody.

"Breathe on her?! Really Donna, all of time and space and that's all you got? _Breathe_ on her?" the Doctor asked, incredulous.

"Oi, I said breathe _into_ her. I haven't _quite_ finished the handbook for this situation, thanks!" she shouted back at him in defence. Then she became very quiet. "No, but seriously Doctor, can't you do something? Give her your blood or something?"

"I'm a Time Lord, Donna. My DNA isn't compatible with hers. Rose needs more advanced medical help than I can offer her here in the TARDIS. And that's saying something," he replied darkly.

"Well there's gotta be something you can do, Doc," Jack yelled as Rose cried out loudly. He held her securely while she thrashed about uncontrollably in his arms, scrunching her eyes closed with the pain.

The TARDIS shook violently as it landed but Rose found she was barely jostled. She felt Jack take a couple of unsteady steps before coming to a sudden halt.

"Jack," the Doctor said carefully. "You'll need to stay in here with Donna. Don't ask any questions, there isn't time. All I can tell you is this: I have no idea _when_ in time we've landed. Now unless you want to be the cause of an enormous paradox, I'll need you to trust me and stay here until I come back."

There was silence. Rose knew the Doctor was daring Jack to challenge him.

Jack must have agreed because suddenly she felt the Doctor's arms around her instead and the cold fresh air was surrounding them. The strong breeze carried with it the most delectable, yet somehow familiar scent. Rose inhaled as deeply as she could, trying to preserve the intoxicating smell.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked some time later in an oddly bright voice.

"Mmm?" Rose asked, unable to so much as lift her head.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you won't like what's going to happen next. I'm sorry."

Sorry? Rose thought. He didn't _sound_ very sorry. In fact, he almost sounded amused. And why was he now shaking with what she assumed was repressed laughter? What was so funny? What was the joke she had missed?

Then she heard the familiar computerised voice and realised where she was. Why the grass had smelled quite so familiar.

_"Commence stage one: disinfection."_

Rose would have shrieked in horror at the cold disinfectant, but what came out was more of was more of a whimper. The sight of Rose writhing in agony soon drew the Doctor's laughter to a finish.

The elevator reached their floor and they emerged quickly. The Doctor took his usual long strides, seemingly unaffected by weight of the additional passenger.

"Doctor?" called out a familiar voice.

"Novice Hame," he replied curtly. He raised Rose's limp body in his arms, not allowing the nurse any time for pleasantries.

Rose was swiftly taken out of the Doctor's arms and transferred to a nearby bed. There was a sharp prick of a needle, to give her the fluids that were being hooked up beside the bed. Remembering these cats' fondness for cocktails, Rose doubted it was as simple as an I.V.

"She was shot. By a Dalek," Rose heard the Doctor explaining to the nurse hastily.

Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, which was just enough time to register the look of pure fear on Novice Hame's face. It was in that moment Rose knew there was no hope for her. She really was going to die.

"And you brought her here?" Novice Hame questioned. "I'm not sure I understand. Surely you felt our care was lacking on your last visit-"

"It was but don't you see? That's the point. You've done all those tests, you have the cure to everything," he pointed out.

"Not everything," Hame said solemnly. "Besides, we don't believe in those methods any more. You showed us the error of our ways, Doctor. We have abolished all previous means of testing."

"You wouldn't have a _new_ means of testing had it not been for me and Rose," he protested before continuing, "you must have made some medical advances in this area."

"If you found our old methods so awful, perhaps you shouldn't have put a stop to them and let them advance further. Maybe then I could better assist you today."

"I stopped them because your old methods were barbaric," he pushed.

"That was before they could save your young companions life, was it not? Why are they acceptable to you now, Doctor?" Hame asked.

The silence was palpable. Rose didn't need to see the Doctor's face to know he would be seething at the comment.

"Never mind all that," he said dismissively. "Let's go back to before Rose and I were ever here, before your whole system got shut down, _b__efore_ you all had to get arrested in order to become the shining beacons of goodness I'm sure you are now. You must have run enough tests to have developed a cure?"

Novice Hame shook her head. "I'm afraid not. We have only ever had four patients that had come into contact with a Dalek. We tried everything but to no avail. There simply isn't time. Death by Dalek was irreversible and quick in each case. I'm sorry, Doctor but your friend should be dead."

"I know," he replied in little more than a trapped whisper.

"Rose doesn't have an ailment," Novice Hame continued to point out, though not unkindly. "She is not unwell. She is dying. There is no cure for death. You of all people should know this, lonely traveller. All I can do is try to make her as comfortable as possible for as long as it takes but there is no medicine we can issue that will restore her health. I'm so very sorry."

Rose could only imagine the Doctor's reaction. She steeled herself, knowing how quick to anger he could be, expecting the threat of shadows and proclamations. She braced herself for the fury of the Oncoming Storm.

She was wrong.

"Do what you can," he ordered in a small voice. It was more of a plea than a command really. "Please. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Rose," the Doctor addressed her now, feigning a brave voice. She felt him approach the bed.

She tried to lift her groggy head but couldn't. She opened her eyes briefly. The Doctor's face swam into vision, his own eyes crushed with the weight of her borrowed pain.

"I will be right back," he promised in a fervent whisper. The sincerity shone from his face. There was the lightest feather of pressure on the back of her hand as he gently placed a kiss there but Rose's mind seemed unable to connect the image and the feeling. Her eyes fluttered closed once more before drifting into a deeper state of unconsciousness.

**oOoOoOo**

**What did you all think? As usual let me know any thoughts!**


	19. Chapter 19

**_oOoOoOoOoOoOo_**

_Hi everyone. Just a quick update regarding, well, my lack of updates._

_A few people have messaged me recently asking when I'd next be updating the fic. I wanted to let you all know what's been happening lately._

_I haven't abandoned the__ story__ nor have I any intention of doing so. I had some holiday time built up from work and spent the bulk of that free time writing new chapters. I had the next three chapters finished and ready to upload with notes and ideas saved for further chapters. I went to check my emails one day and my laptop simply refused to switch on._

_Despite only having the laptop for sixteen months and being cautious about downloads, virus protection and all that, it had failed. The warranty was up, I had no insurance and it was on my head. I had lost all of my work the one time I didn't bother to back it up. There's a lesson to be learned here boys and girls. Needless to say I've learned it._

_So, I replaced the laptop yesterday, got myself insurance and am currently in the process of starting over with the latest chapters. You can all expect an update over the next few days!_

**_Sarah Jane: He replaced you with a brand new model._**

**_K9: Affirmative_**

**_Sarah Jane: Yeah, he does that._**

_I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and for sticking with the story. It's for every one of you I continue to write this. Without your feedback and support, I would have stopped updating a long time ago._

**_oOoOoOoOoOoOo_**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own DW. If I did, all of this probably would have happened instead.**

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

It took Rose a long moment to remember where she was when she came around. Soon after she was able to recall the reason behind her visit.

To her surprise, she felt a lot better than she had earlier. The pain had been excruciating when she had been admitted but now she had to really concentrate to identify it. Whatever pain relief these doctors had her on was incredible. Her head was almost completely clear and her limbs felt numb without the usual groggy sensation that accompanied such heavy medication. Rose couldn't help wincing as she remembered how these cats came across such effective methods.

"Can I get you anything?" Donna asked from across the room, mistaking Rose's disgust for discomfort. "Will I call the nurse?"

"No," Rose replied, propping herself upright against her pillows. "I actually feel alright, thanks. What time is it? Is there any news from the Doctor?"

"No, there's nothing yet," the redhead replied. "It's been just over five hours now."

_Always wait five and a half hours_, Rose thought to herself sadly.

"What about your family? Any word from them?" Rose continued.

Donna shook her head. She looked upset. "I can't get through," she admitted before smiling bravely. "My mum is tough as nails though, she'll be fighting. She's scarier than any of those Daleks, believe me."

"Yeah, my mum's a lot like that," Rose said with a faint laugh. "My mobile phone is in my jacket, if you can find it. The Doctor did a bit of jiggery pokery to it when we first met so I could call her from anywhere in the Universe. You're welcome to try and get through on that. It doesn't work for me anymore. Turns out a parallel world is too far out of range."

"Thank you. I'm sorry about your family," Donna offered kindly.

"Thanks," Rose replied, trying to ignore the familiar painful knot in her stomach at the mention of her family. "Thing is, Donna, I made my choice. This life isn't for them, they're happy the way they are. I just want them to be safe now. The Doctor and Jack are on board the Crucible, they'll stop the Daleks and the Darkness and my family will be safe again. So will yours. I was with them earlier tonight, you know, your family? I was trying to get through to you and the Doctor so I called to your house. They're really great, especially your Granddad. He's a real character."

Donna gave a small appreciative smile in return. "Guess you did enough stalking on that parallel world to remember where I live," she joked.

Rose laughed once before turning serious again.

"How are you after everything that happened on that parallel world? Are you coping, Donna, really?"

"Well, I haven't really had much of a chance to think about it," Donna admitted honestly. "I just got kind of thrown back into it, what with the planets in the sky and all. But yeah, I think I'm alright with it. That wasn't _my_ world. I didn't belong there, I was meant to be travelling the stars, you know?"

"With the Doctor. Yeah, I know how that feels," Rose smiled involuntarily at the thought of her beloved pinstriped alien.

"So what's the deal with you two then?" Donna asked.

"Oh, no," Rose said, laughing. "You can ask me anything but that."

"Okay," Donna replied, thinking about it. "How about this. You wouldn't let me go with the Doctor and Jack tonight. Why not?"

Rose sighed. Trust Donna to have noticed that. "It's complicated," she tried, knowing full well that the feisty redhead was not going to accept that as a legitimate answer.

"I can handle it," Donna assured her before adding, "unless you're not feeling up to it of course."

"No, I'm okay," Rose replied, gnawing on her bottom lip, deep in thought. How was she supposed to explain what she had done? She had taken control of somebody else's future once before, with dire consequences. If she told Donna now, would she then feel compelled to fulfill her destiny like Rose's own father had? Rose knew she should discuss this with the Doctor first, but he might not make it back in time. What if she she took another turn for the worst and nobody knew that she had, essentially, changed history? What if there were rules about this kind of thing? Would she be creating some sort of paradox if she disclosed all the details to the person at the center of it all?

Rose knew she couldn't take that risk. She refused to compromise Donna or the Doctor with reckless behavior.

"I can't go into any specifics, Donna, it's too dangerous. I'll tell you what I can but I need to be careful so please don't ask for more."

"You sound just like him, you know?" Donna interrupted. Rose raised an eyebrow and the other woman gestured for her to continue.

"Do you remember in that parallel world you asked me what the word flux meant and I told you that I didn't know? Let's just say for this example it means that something is fragile, like it's in a changeable state, okay? That's the best way I can explain it."

Donna nodded, listening patiently.

"I did something once, years ago, something that humans should never be able to do. What I did allowed me to see everything and I don't just mean what can viewed through my eyes but all of space and time itself. I could see every event, the big ones and small ones. I could see the things that had already happened and the things that would. I could tell apart the fixed events in time and the ones that were in a state of flux. All the things that could be changed and all the things that must not. The Doctor took that power away from me before it could do serious damage but he must have missed some of it because lately I've seen or sensed things again. Things that would be happening soon. Things that shouldn't be allowed to happen. Things that were wrong."

"That's what Bad Wolf means," Donna guessed correctly. "The Doctor said it meant the end of the Universe."

Rose nodded. She could see why the Doctor had chosen Donna, she was good. "That's right."

"What did you change, Rose?"

The blonde girl looked at her for a long moment before answering softly, "I think you know, Donna."

Donna stood there quietly, taking a long moment to process all of the information she had just received.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked Rose eventually, "and don't take this the wrong way or anything but for someone who's dying, you don't seem to be to be doing much, well, _dying_."

Rose released a laugh she didn't know she had been holding. Donna was sure easy to be around.

"I know, right? I feel great. Fantastic, even. Must be whatever wonder drugs these cats have me on. Which means I'm in for one _hell _of a come down..."

Donna looked blankly at Rose, clearly debating whether to say something or not.

"Don't get me wrong," she started hesitantly, "the nurses _have_ been taking care of you. They've been in and out of here every fifteen minutes like clockwork, checking up on you. You've had so many blood samples taken, I'm surprised you can still feel your arms seeing as they've been using you as a human pin cushion. But they haven't _given_ you anything since you came in five hours ago."

"That's odd," Rose skirted the subject. She feigned the need to stretch in order to sneak a peek at her arm. She was left unsurprised by what she saw, or what she _didn't_. As usual, there were no tell tale needle marks.

"Yeah, weird," Donna agreed quickly before continuing. "It's not only that though. You should see the way everybody is acting. It's not even that they're worried when they come in here, it's like they're disturbed by it. Disturbed by _you_, Rose."

Rose was wondering how to reply to that when they were interrupted by a familiar sound, by the sound of the Universe. They both remained silent as they anxiously listened to the TARDIS materializing outside. A moment later, they could just about make out the muffled voices.

"These might be extraordinary circumstances but normal visiting hours are over. Miss Tyler is resting. Doctor, if you could just tell us who these people are, I'm sure we could be of some assistance," Novice Hame was saying.

"Jackie Tyler," another sharp voice interjected. "Now where the hell is my daughter?"

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

**What did you all think? Unfortunately, it isn't as good as the chapter that I lost was. A couple of days work cannot compare to the weeks I put into the original version. It was just such a heartbreaking prospect to start over that I wanted to get it finished and uploaded today!**

**Were you expecting to see Jackie? Should Rose have left Donna go to the Crucible or was she right to take matters into her own hands? What do you think this change means for the future? I'd love to hear your theories.**

**Reviews = Quicker updates!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to DW (or Eastenders).**

**oOoOoOo**

First, had come the emotional reunion. Tears had been shed, hugs had been exchanged and apologies had been uttered over and over.

Next, had come the questions. The Doctor hadn't gone into any real specifics as to why Rose had been admitted, only that she was ill. Rose was thankful for this as, after an internal debate, she had decided it was better that Jackie didn't know the truth. If her mother knew just how bad things really were, she would never be able to tear herself away again. She would stay until her only daughter died, a feat that would kill her in itself and then what would she have left? A proper family, lost forever, locked away in a parallel world. She would have nothing. Rose would not allow that to happen. This goodbye didn't have to hurt more than was already necessary. She would leave her mother with hope, if nothing else.

After that had come the anger. This had been directed both at the Doctor and Donna. Jackie had become convinced that the Doctor had never really cared for Rose, that he had replaced her almost immediately with Donna, who was some sort of home-wrecker. The Doctor had floundered comically at these accusations, completely taken off guard. Donna had tried and failed to explain the situation to Rose's mother. When this only made matters worse, she had exited the room as swiftly as was humanly possible.

Rose had figured that was as good a time as any to interrupt.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't want...Come to think of it, how did you even get here, mum? What are you doing here?"

"We're going to bring you home," Jackie replied, as if that was blatantly obvious.

Rose's protests died in her throat when Jackie's words sank in. Instead she found her eyes narrowing. "Hold up a second, what do you mean _we_?"

That was when she caught sight of Mickey Smith, shamefacedly hovering by the door, a familiar yellow button grasped securely in his right hand.

"You two have been watching the soaps again, haven't you? What was it this time, Eastenders? It doesn't matter. There was no need to come all this way, that was really dangerous. Besides, I'm feeling loads better," Rose attempted to reassure her mother. She was usually able to calm Jackie when she was in such a distressed state which, when it involved the Doctor, was fairly often.

"I thought he might have taken you, you know, against your will," Jackie admitted.

"Mum, I vanished into thin air. How on Earth could you come to that conclusion?"

"Exactly," her mother emphasized. "How on _E__arth_?"

"With her gymnastic skills?" the Doctor waggled his eyebrows dramatically. "I wouldn't dare," he assured her. Then he turned to face Rose, studying her every move. He hardly seemed to be breathing, his overwhelming disbelief scarcely allowing himself to hope. "Is that true? Are you really feeling better?"

"Well, Donna insists they haven't given me any medication since you left. If that's true then, yeah, I feel fantastic," she concluded, beaming at their code word. "Must have just been a false alarm. Close call, that's all."

His brow furrowed, Rose knew full well that there was no such thing when a Dalek was involved. However, he knew better than to broach this particular topic when Rose's protective mother was in the same room.

"How long was I gone for this time?" he asked, changing the subject.

"What, just now? Oh, five hours, give or take," she said nonchalantly.

"Only five? Rose, that's a new record, isn't it?" the Doctor exclaimed gleefully. He seemed to look around the room for some sort of applause before catching Rose's eye. He tugged on his ear awkwardly. "I mean, oops, that's still not good enough...I'll have to continue to work on that. Yeah, that's what I meant to say."

"But you heard her, Doctor. It's like she just said. She didn't want to go!" Jackie wailed.

"That's not what I was saying, mum, you just never let me finish. I wanted to tell you that I didn't want to go like that. Not in that way, without any explanation or a goodbye. I didn't want it to happen that fast. I was so sure I'd still have time to explain what was happening. I wanted to say goodbye to you two and dad and Tony. Don't get me wrong, I never wanted it to happen like that but I was glad it was time."

An icy breeze rippled through the enclosed space, drawing each of them back to their own sad realities.

"Jackie, Mickey," the Doctor started. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but it's almost time. In your present day, reality is healing itself. The walls are closing and your world will be sealed off. I'll need to take you both home or you'll be trapped on this side forever."

"Dimensional retroclosure," Rose muttered glumly, recalling the term Donna had used whilst on Bad Wolf Bay, on the day that would now, hopefully, never happen. The Doctor looked towards her with a quizzical expression before Jackie Tyler spoke again.

"How can you expect me to just leave her here? You told me she was sick and now, all of a sudden, she's not. She seems like herself but who knows what I'm supposed to believe? What do alien illnesses even look like? Is she going to be safe with you or not, Doctor? You never could promise me that."

"No, Jackie, I couldn't and do you want to know why? Because I'd be lying to you if I did. I can promise you a multitude of things. For instance, I can promise you I will always try my best to keep your daughter safe but I can't guarantee it. I can give you my word that I'll never hurt Rose by choice. But that doesn't mean it won't happen. This is the life I live, Jackie. It's not necessarily the way I want it to be and it's not always a safe life but it's mine and, with Rose, it's better."

He dropped his gaze to the floor before continuing on.

"If Rose chooses to return with you today, then I won't fight her on it, not if it's what she really wants. That's her choice," he said flatly. "But I won't abandon her again. I've sent her away before. She ripped apart time and space to come back to me. I'm done making decisions for her. It's her choice this time, regardless of what that choice might entail."

After what felt like an eternity, he finally raised his head to look at his young companion. A mingle of heartache and uncertainty burned deep in his ancient eyes before Rose realized what exactly he was asking. He was asking if she wanted to be with her family, if she wanted to go back Pete's World to die. It was all Rose could do to stare back. It was one of those odd little moments they had when the entire outside world ceased to exist around them and neither of them even noticed.

Rose took his hand gently in her own with an encouraging smile. "Do you even have to ask?" she asked.

"The thing is," Mickey said, breaking the silence, "even if Rose leaves today, I'm not going back with Jackie. I'm staying put." He coughed, elaborating. "Well not _here_ obviously but on Earth, if you'll give me a lift back."

"Mickey, you can't do that," Rose said. "What about your nan? Your old nan?"

"She's gone, Rose. She passed on a couple of months back." He brushed off her apologies. "It's okay, honest. She went properly this time. It was peaceful, she would have wanted it that way. I had years with her that I would never have got otherwise. For those I'm grateful."

"Are you sure this is what you really want, darlin'?" Jackie pleaded, taking Rose's hand. "Maybe if you just gave it some more time. Maybe in a couple more years you'd meet somebody else. I mean, look at me and Pete. All these years where I thought I'd never love anyone again..."

"Exactly, mum," Rose pointed out. "Listen to what you just said. For you it was always dad. You never stopped loving him. You can't say I didn't try either, that isn't fair. I gave it four years, mum. That's enough time to know. It's always going to be him."

The Doctor's eyes widened in her peripheral vision. That was clearly news to him. He cocked his head and mouthed the word _four?_ at Rose. She shook her head in return. She hoped they could talk about that later. They already had so much to discuss.

"What if I showed you the life your daughter could have with me, Jackie? Proved that, no matter what animosity you may feel towards me, that your daughter is not the latest in a long line? Not to me."

"Suppose I can't come, too?" Rose asked, though she already guessed the answer.

"I'm afraid not," he replied. "I already know where we'll need to go so it should be an easy trip. It won't take long but you can't be there. Too risky, you need to stay here and rest. Mickey Mouse will look after you, won't you?"

"Sure thing, boss," Mickey said, settling into a nearby chair.

The Doctor turned and looked significantly at Rose's mother.

"Blimey, I never thought I'd say this. Jacqueline Tyler, welcome aboard."

**oOoOoOo**

**This chapter was a tricky one to write. First off, I wrote it that Jackie had been told that Rose was dying but it just didn't seem plausible that Rose would choose to inflict that pain on her own mother. So I rewrote it. As you do! **

**I wanted to come back with a strong chapter, so I hope I accomplished that. It's certainly one of the longer chapters I've written but quality and quantity don't always amount to the same thing. Let me know what you all thought!**

**Your reviews so far have all been so kind, it's sort of blowing me away. They are my main motivation for updates so please keep them up if you'd like to see more soon!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I regret not typing a blanket disclaimer at the beginning of this story.**

**oOoOoOoOo**

Within seconds of leaving the TARDIS and ascertaining where she now stood, Jackie Tyler had started panicking.

"Is this a joke? Doctor, tell me you're joking. You're not taking me home. You can't, not without letting me talk to Rose properly first."

At first the Doctor was unable to gain Jackie's attention. He called her name two, or even three times, before finally pulling Rose's mother from her hysteria. "Jackie, Jackie, hold on. Please, stop panicking. I'm not taking you home, really. Just look around you, what do you actually _see_?"

"Home," she said impulsively before really looking at her surroundings. Then she said "_oh_," in a small voice. "It is home...But we haven't used that Jeep in years. Started having problems with it after that trip to bleedin' Norway, the stupid thing. And those flowers, they only bloom in the Springtime. Doctor, are we in the past? You told me visiting other worlds was impossible, so how did we wind up here?"

"Oh, people just love to throw that one at me, don't they? For the last time, it _is_ impossible, or at least it _should_ be. You lot just keep on finding a way, irregardless of the consequences, I might add. Is it lucky, unlucky, I don't know. In your present day, the walls are still repairing after Davros so it's possible for us to travel now. Oh, before I forget," he patted his coat pocket once before producing two silver keys on long chains. He handed one to Jackie. "Here, put this on. Now these mean we can pass by unnoticed but they won't make us invisible. That means no famous Tyler outbursts, ta."

"This is a perception filter, isn't it?" Jackie asked astutely, inspecting the modified key she now held between her fingers. "Rose has one," she added by way of explanation.

The Doctor mulled this information over before breaking into a wicked grin. "Rose has a perception filter, eh? Who has she been using that on then?" The question may have been presented as lighthearted but Jackie could see the genuine curiosity burning beneath the cheery exterior. After all, Rose had four years of memories that he couldn't account for.

"Huh, it seems I know more about my own daughter, for once. Makes a nice change." Then she grasped his arm, _shh_ing him frantically, even though she was the only one speaking. She pointed at someone in the distance. "Hang on a sec. I _know_ him."

The Doctor focused on the figure briefly before laughing. "Well, well, well," he said. "It would seem we have something in common after all."

The familiar man approached the pair. He was smartly dressed but not in the conventional sense, causing him to look out of place at the Tyler's decadent home. His head of dark floppy hair and prominent facial features seemed to be competing in equal measure, resulting in a bizarre attractiveness.

The stranger slid an envelope into the Tyler's letterbox before turning to the Doctor and Jackie. "Don't worry," he told them simply. "I won't take any chances."

The Doctor drew himself up to his full height and nodded once, signalling that the man should continue on.

Upon past-Jackie opening the front door, the stranger became a vision of polite confusion and charm. "Oh, hello," he said, pretending to be flustered. "I'm sorry, I must have the wrong address."

"Oh, I don't know about that," she said flirtatiously. Then she offered a manicured hand. "Jackie," she said.

The man looked down at her extended hand, his eyes lingering on her stomach one second too long. "I'm Tony," he replied smoothly, returning her smile.

"Jackie," the Doctor asked in an amused voice. "I'm curious, weren't you married back then?"

Jackie scowled defensively beside him, silently hoping he would drop the subject. "I'd forgotten about that skirt," she said instead.

The other Jackie laughed loudly from the porch and the Doctor, it would seem, was unable to contain his amusement any longer. "_Ooh, there's a strange man on my doorstep. Anything could happen_," he quoted before adding sarcastically, "of course, because that's where all the great love stories happen, isn't it? Right on your own front porch."

"And you met my daughter where exactly, Doctor? Some basement, wasn't it?"

The Doctor opened and closed his mouth a few times before failing to acquire any actual words, deciding instead to concentrate on the pairing in front of him.

The other man was craning his neck with an odd smile on his face. Jackie followed his line of vision, as she had done on the day, and was left confused. All she could see was Rose, sitting with her back to them, eating what appeared to be a rather large tub of ice cream. As much as she loved her daughter, she couldn't quite understand what was so interesting about that particular sight.

Why were they even here, watching this scene unfold? It seemed like a colossal waste of time considering she had seen it before and her daughter was currently lying on some godforsaken planet in a hospital bed.

She hardly spared a second before turning back to the letterbox and retrieving the previously deposited item. She tore open the envelope and read aloud the card inside. "Darlig Ulv Stranden," she said before realization sank in.

"I'll let you get back to your daughter," the other man was saying.

"No way...That's _you_?" she asked, evidently gobsmacked as she watched the second man walk away.

"Not yet. But yes, it will be some day," the Doctor confirmed darkly.

"But, Doctor," she rebutted, "this has already happened. If this is happening now, then it can't have already happened then. This doesn't make any sense."

"Of course it does, Jackie. Time is not a straight-forward progression of events. What if doesn't have to be a, b and then c, in that order, to still be called the alphabet? It's not always a case of cause and effect, sometimes the cause needs to be created because the effect has already _happened_. Don't worry, this encounter will work itself into your original memories as long as nothing major is disturbed today. I swear, sometimes I wonder if I'm speaking the same language. I may as well be from Raxacoricofallapatorius. Or worse," he gulped in horror, "Clom."

"But, why? Why risk all of this, timelines or paradices or whatever Rose is always banging on about, to put a postcard in our letterbox?"

"Don't you see? He doesn't..._I_ don't ever forget about her. You're right, she won't always be safe. Eventually, the day will come where I will lose her, I can't deny that. You're asking why you should let her stay with me, this is why. Because if the chance ever arises for me to see her again, I will take it, no matter what face I might have, no matter who I may be travelling with, no matter what the cost. Yes, I wanted to ensure she could get back to me but I think I just wanted to see her, Jackie."

The Doctor was certain that this was the first time in her life Jacqueline Tyler had been stunned into silence. It was quite a gratifying and yet, simultaneously, disturbing scene.

"That's not why we came back," Jackie admitted, eventually. "After she was gone, we still heard her, Doctor, I swear it. Sometimes I even felt her. Felt like she was alone, like she in pain. She kept calling out for you, or me. I came back because I had to. I had to make sure my daughter was okay."

"Jackie, I'm sorry," the Doctor said earnestly, "but that wasn't real. Can you remember what I told you when you were convinced your dad was back? I said a footprint isn't always a boot. It's the same in this case. All that was left of Rose in your world was an echo, sort of like an imprint. An excess memory caught in the division of time when she was pulled between realities. What you felt was what she was feeling in the moment she left you, her fear and pain, the basic human need for her mother, combined with her search for me. It no longer existed after that moment. At least I hope it didn't."

They walked back toward the TARDIS, the silence passing with the steps they took, the Doctor waiting for Jackie to respond.

"I named my baby Tony, you know?" Jackie said conversationally. "Couldn't seem to get the name out of my head for some reason after that meeting. I didn't even know what I was having yet, wasn't even three months gone. That name, though, it just seemed to fit...Some things just do."

It was in that moment that reaching a decision became simple for Jacqueline Tyler. It was an impossible choice, yet also incredibly easy. It went against every natural instinct she had as a mother and somehow, she knew it was the right thing to do.

"I'll let her stay, Doctor. It's time. Let's go back."

**oOoOoOoOo**

**Had you any idea when I first wrote the chapter from Rose's POV that the man at the door was the eleventh Doctor? Were you surprised or did you hate it?**

**On a side note, David Tennant told everyone at Comic Con recently that Rose was a girlfriend. Of course, we all knew it but it's nice to have official confirmation after 9+ years.**

**I have the bones of the next chapter finished already so you can expect that soon.**

**Reviews are my incentives to update quickly! I am replying to all of you who have been kind enough to leave a comment but do remember, if you're on a guest account, I won't be able to respond.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I'm still awaiting the rights to DW.**

**oOoOoOo**

According to her phone, it had been five days since Rose Tyler had been shot by a Dalek and admitted to the hospital on New Earth.

In terms of physical pain, she was feeling a lot stronger. The nurses still forbade her to leave the confines of the bed, despite her repeated protests of health. They refused to tell her anything about her current condition, and as far as she could tell, the Doctor was in the dark too. She was itching to get up and investigate, and would have done so, had her own Doctor not been in agreement with Novice Hame. She was also sleeping more than ever, although she wasn't remotely fatigued. She could never recall falling asleep, but her body must have been craving the rest because, every time she woke, she felt better than before.

Four days ago, the Doctor had gone to Pete's World and brought the Tyler family to the hospital to say goodbye.

As for emotional pain, Rose couldn't say she wasn't suffering. She knew she would eventually grow to accept the numbness in her heart, accompanying the loss of her family, but that didn't make it any easier. Her pain was lessened only by the knowledge that their lives were already so full, they would continue to be happy, even in her absence. She hadn't spoken to anybody about this struggle, least of all the Doctor. Rose knew that if she shared this with him, he would only blame himself. Since the pain she felt was inevitable, it wouldn't help to burden him with it, too.

Three days had passed since Mickey and Jack, too, had left them and returned to Earth.

It had hurt to say goodbye to the pair so soon after parting from her family but Rose took solace in the fact they were only a mere phone call away. In their absence, Rose was enjoying getting to know Donna. She was pleased to discover that the woman had an infectious personality, for it was exactly what she needed in the current situation. And, although she was enjoying Donna's company immensely, Rose was still eager to get back to how things were, the old team of Shiver and Shake.

Right now, the Doctor was telling Donna about the time he and Martha had met William Shakespeare. From the way he described it, Rose could tell he had, once again, been disappointed upon meeting the author. He always was. Heroes could never measure up to the grand historical tales that were spun about them. _Well_, she allowed, _there were some exceptions_. She laughed quietly at the thought and the Doctor looked up at the sound. He met Rose's eye before swiftly averting his gaze, opting instead to fiddle with the button on his suit jacket and effectively ceasing his story.

Yes, Rose Tyler could hardly wait for things to return to some semblance of normality. There was just one problem: The Doctor had hardly spoken to her in days.

He had been behaving strangely ever since he returned from his trip with Jackie. Rose didn't know where the pair had gone that day, or why her mother had been so shaken up when they returned. She had attempted to question him, but he made excuse after excuse to not be left alone in the same room as her. The distance he was putting between them was undeniable and his actions all led her to the same conclusion; the Doctor was avoiding her, she was sure of it.

Though she was with her best friend, Rose couldn't help feeling isolated at the time in her life when she needed him the most. After days of rejection and frustration, she had had enough.

"Would you stop it?" she snapped.

The Doctor froze mid-twist and turned to look at her. "Rose?" he asked, seemingly bewildered by the sudden change in his companion's mood.

"I said stop it. You're avoiding me and you have been since I came back. What's the matter with you?"

"No, I haven't," he replied, floundering, looking towards Donna for help, who held her up hands up innocently and slowly began to back out of the room.

Rose rallied the moment the redhead was out of sight. "Don't you lie to me, Doctor. You can hardly even look me in the eye. Why not?"

"Didn't you want me to come back?" she continued, determined to get an answer for his recent behavior. "I would ask if it's because I've changed but you haven't spent enough time with me to know if I have or not! Whatever it is, Doctor, you don't seem very pleased to see me again. So what's the reason? Have you moved on or something? Are you happier travelling with Martha and Donna and forgotten all about me, is that it?"

"Don't be ridiculous," the Doctor said sharply.

"Ridiculous?" Rose raged. "How am I being ridiculous? For four years I've been trying to get back to you, Doctor. You stood on that beach and told me that it would be two years. Well, it wasn't. You told me you wouldn't travel with anyone else with and I find out there's already been two others! Admit it, if I was just the latest in that long line. Did you lie to me because you thought you'd never see me again?"

"Don't be so irrational, Rose", he replied coldly. "That couldn't be further from the truth and you know it."

Rose knew how unfair she was being. She attempted to get her emotions under control but it was no use, she was already too far gone to stop herself now. She knew this rant was leading somewhere, she was aware of the incredibly thin line she was walking. When she was holding herself together purely by passion, it made sense that said passion would ultimately be her undoing. Six years of questions and uncertainty had built up and come to a head.

"What is the truth then?" she asked. "'Cus you sure as hell don't seem happy to be here with me. You're running off any opportunity you get; taking Jack home, even Mickey. You'd think you'd want to spend every last second with me and instead you're off doing who knows what with my mother of all people."

"You think this has been easy for me?" the Doctor asked. "You actually think I want to be away from you but what's the alternative? Why would I sit here and watch you die when all I've wanted for the past two years, and yes it's only been two years for me, is to see you again. Against all astronomical odds you made it back to me. And, against all odds, it doesn't matter. You're dying Rose and there's nothing I can do to stop it!"

"But I really am feeling fine," Rose reasoned. "Maybe we just got it wrong and jumped to conclusions. My point is that, if the doctors _are_ right then you're wasting the time we do have, Doctor. You have the chance to walk the slow path with me and you don't want it."

The Doctor stared at her, incredulous. "This is not the slow path, Rose. Whatever you've been exposed to, whatever this thing is, it's in control. Yes, you're still here but it can easily kill you. Make no mistake, it's allowing you to live. Without running tests, which for some obscene reason you won't let me do, I have no idea what's manifesting inside of you. This couldn't be any further from the slow path. This is the worst, most cruel path possible. You humans, your lives are so short, so fleeting. Yours more so than any other because you travel with me. The difference is I will not simply get an infection and die, I will not age. I could have been shot by that Dalek and survived. You and me are not the same. And now, to top it all off your countdown has been quickened. You, human as you are, could die at any moment and I, a Time Lord, have no hope of controlling the time you have left!"

"Okay," Rose said, "let me ask you this. Sarah Jane warned me about something once. She told me that you were awful at goodbyes. I guess I expected more than that, when I was actually dying. Is that what this is about?"

"You think this is a complex I have about goodbyes? Rose, I've had entire lifetimes of goodbyes, you can't honestly believe that. Have you any idea how painful it is to watch everybody close to you wither and die? Hundreds upon hundreds of years of death, of goodbyes. The pain that is accompanies a single one of those is soul destroying, add to that being forced to watch you...I'm the Doctor and I can't even heal the woman I- Why would I ever want to say goodbye to you?"

Rose froze, reminiscent of a conversation she had started with him, years prior. She remained silent, afraid to interrupt the words that were finally pouring freely from his mouth.

"On the Crucible, Davros dropped the TARDIS into a core of Z-Neutrino energy. Everything I own, gone in an instant, yet all I could think about was you, stuck here and that I'd have no means to find you again, that I _wouldn't_ be able to say that goodbye. Thank Rassilon, Jack was on-board and was able to establish the emergency protocols, but have you any idea how it felt to have lost everything that mattered in that one moment?"

Rose was silent. She shook her head, reeling from his words. Suddenly her fears didn't seem quite so significant. The Doctor waited, _her_ Doctor was waiting, and she knew she owed him an explanation. It almost seemed silly to admit what really had her so distraught.

"I thought you might not want me any more," she whispered.

The Doctor's eyebrows knitted together. He said nothing but took one uneasy step towards her bed, then another. He raised his hand, questioning whether he was allowed such a privilege, and continued until he was close enough to place it on her cheek. He leaned closer and pressed his forehead to hers, in a move that was foreign yet also completely natural, staying frozen like that for what felt like an eternity.

"_Want_ you?" he finally mumbled, shaking his head ever so slightly against her own. "Oh, Rose. That's wrong on so many levels. Why would I ever let you go again? You irrational, remarkable, beautiful girl. Whatever this thing is, I will find it. I will figure it out, I promise you that. I am not ready to lose you. I will not let you die. I cannot..."

A noise from outside broke the pair apart. They looked up to see Novice Hame standing in the doorway. "That's the thing, Doctor. The most curious thing. It would appear that Rose is no longer dying."

**oOoOoOo**

**So much angst.**

**So, this is one of the longer chapters I've written, and one of the more difficult. Turns out getting my version to align with the original story is not so simple, hence the delay in uploading the chapter! I must have re-written this at least six times before feeling somewhat satisfied. **

**Do you all like longer chapters that flesh out more detail, or do you prefer to read ones that are short and to the point?**

**What did you all think of Ten/Rose in this chapter? I'm not sure if it's translating, but I try to write lines for Ten that would also be reminiscent of Nine, as I believe that is where their love story tru****ly began.**

**Reviews encourage me to update faster!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I do not own this show. I wish Russell T. Davies would swoop in heroically and rescue it from Moffat. Remember when he used to run things? Sigh. Those were the days.**

**oOoOo**

_"That's the thing, Doctor. The most curious thing. It would appear that Rose is no longer dying."_

Rose tossed Novice Hame's words about in her head, as she had done for the three days since she had heard them. Once again, she came up with nothing new.

_"It would be one thing if your companion agreed to remain to the confines of her room," Novice Hame had said. "I would be more than happy to keep her admitted for further monitoring. I'm sure you've already noticed this, Doctor, but Miss Tyler has a tendency to...wander. It would seem she's especially prone to wander into rooms with restricted access. Given her recent prognosis of health, surely a hospital would be the least safe place for her to be, what with all the...contaminants."_

_An odd look had passed between the pair before the Doctor spoke again._

_"Actually, Rose prefers the term 'exploring'," he replied earnestly._

So the Doctor had effectively lost that argument and Rose had been discharged from the hospital. While she was enjoying being back home in the TARDIS, the Doctor remained highly skeptical of her new-found health. _Whatever this thing is_, he insisted, i_s not only very, very bad but also potentially very dangerous._ If her rate of healing was accelerated to the level that she could recover from a Dalek attack, then it was likely changing Rose's cells in the process. Neither Rose nor the Doctor had any idea what that would happen, if it succeeded in doing so. All Rose knew was, if it was changing her cells, it could be changing _her_. That notion alone was quite a scary one.

She had finally succumbed to his relentless requests and had agreed to let him run his tests.

Sitting in the cool reality of the medical bay, watching the Doctor preparing various vials of liquid, Rose now realized she was a bit concerned about said tests. The doctors on New Earth has already run all the standard examinations before releasing her and there didn't appear to be anything abnormal evident in Rose's system.

This had moved them on to plan B.

Given that they had nothing to go on, it would have to be a process of elimination. This plan involved introducing different infections into her system, to see if she could fight them off naturally. Some would be common-place viruses and others could only be cured by specific antidotes, all of which the Doctor had on standby. This would prove whether Rose's system was only fighting off the more physical attacks, as opposed to viral ones. Neither the Doctor nor Rose were particularly happy about the prospect of running these tests, but without them, she remained at risk.

And although she knew she was completely safe-the Doctor could counteract any of the effects, after all- in the end, she had decided she'd rather not remain conscious for these experiments.

Because, in all honesty, Rose couldn't trust herself to be alone with the Doctor.

Rose had never considered herself to be a passionate person, at least not in that way. Maybe she just had never been with the right person. With Jimmy it had been exciting and, quite frankly, completely reckless. With Mickey it had been comforting and safe. This was something else entirely, something new. With the Doctor it was pure desire. It was as if every time she was near him lately, a chemical reaction began burning beneath her skin and no matter what the contact, or how innocent it was, Rose always craved more.

Although the line had been blurred on New Earth, it had yet to be crossed. Their situation remained as complicated as ever. He may not have said the words outright but Rose couldn't deny the Doctor's declaration had been one of love.

Rose questioned what exactly was stopping her from making a move. It wasn't that the opportunity hadn't presented itself because the perfect one was occurring at that very moment. It wasn't that Rose wasn't a _take_ _action_ sort of girl. She was. The stumbling block was something else entirely.

What if kissing didn't have the same bearing on him, she wondered. What if, where he came from, that sort of contact had a very different meaning? She knew very little about his home planet, after all. He may have spoken of it's beauty, of his people but any traditions and customs it held were foreign to her.

Was he not attracted to her? He was an alien, after all. It was possible he was only attracted his own species.

Rose had no sooner considered that theory than she had dismissed it. Not only was the Doctor the most open-minded man she'd ever known, but she was certain he had commented on biological similarities between Time Lords and humans before. Plus, he had called her beautiful a number of times.

Not to mention the kissing.

They had kissed twice before at times when she wasn't entirely herself. Once in his last form, once in his current. She wasn't supposed to remember either.

She _definitely_ wasn't supposed to know about the kiss on the Game Station, the kiss he initiated to remove the time vortex from her head. She couldn't say she remembered those events as such but she had seen them all on the TARDIS monitor.

Their kiss on New Earth had, once again, involved a third party. This kiss had been initiated by Cassandra. Rose had let him believe that she had no control, but the truth was, she had had enough mental defenses left to physically reject it, had she wanted to. In the moment, that had been the furthest thing from her mind. The Doctor had been new and different, with a confidence and enthusiasm that she hadn't seen before. Not to mention his hair. All she had wanted to do at the time was snog him senseless. So that's what she did, with a little help from Lady Cassandra.

Rose knew she needed to proceed with caution. She needed to talk about her fears with him. The TARDIS could translate any language but that was no help when she didn't have the correct words. Rose wasn't sure how to even begin broaching this particular topic.

It wasn't just the physical that mattered, she knew. There was more to a relationship than that, especially one like theirs. Rose already loved him far deeper than that, regardless. In her head, she knew that was the truth. Now if only she could convince her body of that fact.

Being in such close proximity to the Doctor now was not helping matters.

She laid back onto the stretcher, her breathing becoming very shallow as the Doctor took her arm in his hands as he searched for a vein. Then he produced one of the glass vials, pouring it's contents into a syringe.

"I'll see you soon," he smiled comfortingly as he pushed the plunger, injecting the ominous bubbling lilac serum.

"Not if I see you first," she replied with a bright smile.

She tried to measure his response to the situation but found it difficult to focus on anything bar the erratic sound of her own heartbeat pounding in her ears. From what she could tell, his own breathing was very measured. He appeared to be unaffected by their current closeness.

If these drugs didn't take hold soon, she would likely pass out from forgetting how to breathe.

As consciousness escaped and darkness began to swallow her whole, forgotten were Novice Hame's words. Instead a new thought was repeating in her head, circling her as she spiraled down and down into nothingness.

Maybe it wasn't the correct words she needed. In this case, perhaps actions would speak louder than words. Rose didn't have to kiss the Doctor, she would just have to leave him no option but to kiss _her_. Soon.

**oOoOoOo**

**It was time for a lighter chapter, I thought.**

** Let me know your thoughts on it and what you'd like to see for the next one! I was considering a fun chapter, taken from the Doctor's P.O.V... Would that interest anyone? I'd love to hear your ideas!**

**Forgive me any mistakes. I'm still beta-less and it's currently almost two in the morning! Not the best combination!**

**Until then,**

**DoctorRoseLove**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I didn't acquire the rights to Doctor Who during my hiatus.**

**You guys better make yourselves comfortable. This is going to be a long chapter.**

**oOoOoOo**

The Doctor, Rose and Donna were in the console room, engaging in what appeared to be Donna's new favourite pastime. It included posing hypothetical scenarios to see what would happen in that situation.

_"What if I had never been born?"_

_"What if I traveled back in time and accidentally killed my own great grandfather?"_

_"What if I fell into a river on another planet and an alien lizard thing bit my leg off?"_

It was basically a giant game of 'what if'.

"What if we lost the TARDIS and got stranded on Earth forever?" she asked next.

The TARDIS groaned once, clearly uncomfortable with broaching this particular topic.

"I wouldn't let that happen," the Doctor replied darkly.

"Yeah, but what would we do if it did, though? Settle down and get houses and jobs and stuff, I suppose. What sort of jobs would we get? You're a doctor, there's plenty of demand for doctors. It sounds like Rose has done a bit of everything and I'm a temp... People are always looking for temps, right?"

"Donna, for the last time, you are not a temp," the Doctor reinforced sternly before adding, "plus you two would hardly be 'stranded' on Earth. It is your home planet after all."

"Yeah but let's say we did. We'd manage right, the three of us?" Donna asked.

Rose made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a scoff. "You're wasting your time, Donna. The Doctor doesn't really do domestic. To be honest, I don't think he knows how. He can barely boil a kettle." She waggled her eyebrows teasingly at the Doctor.

"I can_ so_ do domestic..." the Doctor protested before admitting sheepishly "but it's just so _boring_. Who wants to do the same old thing day in, day out when you have all of space and time at your fingertips? Besides," he turned accusingly to Rose, "you don't handle the domestic element much better than I do."

"What?" Rose asked, incredulous.

"Well, you quit your job the day we met," the Doctor pointed out. "When we were catering for alternate Jackie's birthday party you ambushed Pete instead of serving people. Then there was the time we worked in the school and you would spend entire lunches sat talking to me instead of tending to your dinner lady duties," he finished smugly.

"Pfft," was Rose's only retort. "Those weren't even proper jobs. I've never been paid for any of them, except Henricks which I only had to leave because you blew up the building the first night we met. Remember that? And we never did find Wilson. I might have liked to stay on at Deffry Vale High but, oh hang on that's right, you and K-9 blew that up as well! I'm sensing a pattern here, are you?"

Donna was unable to contain her laughter any longer. "Oh, another explosion, what a surprise! I'm curious, have you ever tried a normal greeting, Doctor? You know, like a simple introduction or even a handshake? He spacenapped me from my wedding the first time we met," she informed Rose in a matter of fact voice.

"Oh, you lot," the Doctor groaned, "you're never happy. Heaven forbid you're forced to blow up one measly department store whilst trying to negotiate with a Nestene Consciousness and neutralize an Auton invasion to save the whole of Britain."

"Or kidnap a bride on her wedding day," Rose sniggered.

"While I was walking _down the aisle_," Donna input.

The Doctor shot her a disapproving look for that one. "Are you ever going to let that go? Go on then you two, enlighten me. Let's say we did get stranded on Earth for a whole year and you had to choose one job each, what would it be?"

"Well I definitely wouldn't be a cater-waiter." Donna said, clearly still joking. "Those skirts are way too short for my liking. Don't really have the legs for it."

"Nor me," Rose nodded. "Seriously though, Donna. You should see that uniform. Never put someone in a skirt that short if there's a chance they'll later be running for their life. Mickey had to rescue us with a blimp, of all things. So I had to climb a rope ladder in mid air, above a burning factory, on what was probably the windiest night of the year and keep that skirt down as well. I swear I must have given the Doctor a right eyeful!"

Both women erupted with laughter at the notion. They continued to laugh until Rose caught a glimpse of the Doctor's expression, and realized he wasn't laughing along with them.

"Doctor," Rose said, growing increasingly mortified. "Tell me I didn't..."

The Doctor obviously didn't hear her. He was now gazing at her jean-clad legs with a small but evident smile on his face.

Donna cleared her throat loudly and rather pointedly. "Oi, eyes up top, mate."

The Doctor snapped straight out of his daze, looking suitably abashed. He blinked once then cleared his throat. "Sorry," he said. Then he quickly rounded the TARDIS console and started muttering about circuits that needed merging with some binary system or other, tearing out wires as he spoke.

Rose tried two or three times to regain his attention but to no avail. He was fast becoming completely absorbed in what he was doing, which currently seemed to be avoiding her.

"For what it's worth, I've already been stranded once before. It doesn't mean you have to take the domestic approach. I didn't just sit idle on that parallel world and no matter where we end up, I'll continue to do exactly what we do now. I'll be helping people." Rose said quietly before she and Donna withdrew from the console room.

_oOoOoOoOo_

The Doctor was replaying the conversation he had just had with one Miss Rose Marion Tyler. Though you could hardly call his stuttering and leering a conversation. He had been so rash, so foolish. Too close to revealing what he had tried so hard to keep hidden.

He leaned up against the console, sighing. Since they had returned from New Earth, she had most certainly been flirting with him more, to use the human expression. Did she not know why he had put these rules in place? Had he not already explained why he couldn't be with her, at least not in that way? Why was she so intent on making it that much more difficult for them both?

He rubbed his hand against the back of his neck and closed his eyes. It was getting worse as time went on, that much was for sure. It wasn't that he didn't want to be with Rose. Quite the opposite, actually. Imagining her face now, he felt the all too familiar ache in his hearts. He shook his head, trying to reason with himself. These feelings shouldn't even be an option for him. He wasn't wired the same way humans were, after all. He was a Time Lord. He didn't let hormones and emotions dictate his actions, especially not after nine hundred odd years. The Time Lords were more advanced than that. Yes they could be a pompous race at times but there was no denying their methods were more efficient. He didn't mean that in an arrogant way but the Time Lords had evolved past such needs. They were a superior species.

_Were_, he repeated mentally. And he was the last of that species.

The Time Lords would die out with him, he knew. So why was he denying himself the chance to be happy? Maybe an emotional connection alone wouldn't be enough to sustain a relationship with Rose. She was human, after all, she had different needs than he. Surely a shorter yet fulfilled life with her was better than no life at all? He only had a few regenerations left in him. Maybe she'd last just that long before she withered away. After all her most recent tests had shown no signs of infection...

The Doctor could scarcely allow himself to hope. He briefly contemplated a life with Rose. It could never be domestic with her, that much he knew but it would never be less than brilliant. Ever since that first night, he had just known. Everything was different with her, even the smallest things just seemed better. _Better with two_. Better with _her_. She had come into his life and lessened his burden, shared the load without him even noticing. She had taken him, weary from the war and brought life and hope and laughter where there was previously none. She still continued to radiate light to this day, brightening up even the darkest of days. It was simply who she was. She was kind and selfless, fair yet rational, vulnerable yet so incredibly brave.

There was just something about her.

He couldn't imagine himself ever wanting to let her go but it wasn't fair to take away her human future either. That wasn't his decision to make. Although maybe he wasn't. _I made my choice a long time ago and I'm never going to leave you._ Those were her words. Maybe she'd never want to leave him, either. He didn't give her nearly enough credit. If she claimed she could handle it then she had probably meant it. Even if she had no true concept of it right now, once upon a time, she had promised him forever. All he wanted was to live up to that promise.

His pained thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the grating. It was probably Donna, he realized, come to shout at him for ignoring them earlier. His eyes snapped open and he looked up.

When he did, his jaw almost hit the floor.

Donna was nowhere in sight. Instead it was Rose, just Rose. Her blonde hair cascaded around her shoulders in soft, loose waves. There was an excited glint in her eye but an overall nervousness to her demeanor. Her cheeks were flushed, like she'd been running. He knew she hadn't been running though, at least not in that outfit.

He gulped, meeting her eyes apprehensively. Her whole face lit up. Immediately she looked less frightened. She grinned widely at him, poking her tongue out through her teeth as she did so. Rassilon, how he loved that smile. His hand twitched as he instinctively reached out for hers.

"Rose," he said guardedly. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about what you said earlier. You're right, I wasn't very focused that time we catered for Jackie's birthday. I thought I'd give the whole thing another shot and really commit to it this time. So how about it, Doctor? Are you hungry? I could make you lunch if you wanted... Or _serve_ you something, if you'd prefer?" she asked, saucily.

He wasn't sure if it was the cheeky look on her face or that absurdly sexy caterer's outfit, which seemed a good two inches shorter than the last time she had worn it. Whatever it was, the Doctor found his already loose resolve wavering. He crossed the distance between them in three quick strides, cursing himself inwardly as he did so.

It was in that moment that he decided. Of all the humans he had ever known and lost, he would not add Rose Tyler to that list.

He tried to appear confident as he hesitantly took her face in his hands. "Rose, have you any idea what you're doing to me?" he asked, seriously.

"Nope," she replied. "But I thought we'd find a career path for you. You never did show me if you could dance. Go on then, Doctor. Show me your moves."

That was enough. Without hesitating, he leaned down and kissed her.

He brushed his lips against hers ever so lightly, feeling her stiffen in shocked response. Then she went limp in his arms. That was all it took. He drew her even closer to him, sighing her name. As he deepened the kiss, she hastily entangled her fingers in his hair. It was only when her lips parted and she ran her tongue along his bottom lip did he pull back to measure her reaction.

Rose opened her eyes reluctantly. "Hello," she half whispered, a satisfied smile spreading across her face.

"Hello," he grinned in return, sliding her hand into his.

_oOoOoOo_

It was moments like this that made it all worthwhile, Rose thought.

It wasn't aliens or saving entire planets. It wasn't the unknown or the never ending possibilities. It wasn't solving mysteries or the running, oh the endless running!

No, it wasn't the non-stop moving, or the time travel but rather, the rare time that time stood still. Just for them.

It was this. When they stood together, exactly as they were, content in the silence. It was his arms wrapped securely around her waist and hers draped lightly around his neck.

It was their embrace that would span over years, lifetimes, even generations.

**oOoOoOo**

**The chapter is finally up! Don't know if anybody is still following this story but to those who are, thank you for sticking with me. I hope you enjoyed it. Was it way too corny? I felt it was long overdue! Forgive me any mistakes, I am still without a beta. As usual, let me know any thoughts xx**


End file.
